The U.S. Supreme Court chose not to consider Anne Arundel County’s rule requiring gun shops to distribute safety literature to people who purchase firearms. In doing so, the court ended a yearslong battle and let the local law stand.

The case, Maryland Shall Issue Inc., et. al. v. Anne Arundel County, appeared on a list of hundreds that were rejected Monday without comment.

However, Mark Pennak, president of the gun rights group that filed suit, said as similar regulations are passed throughout the state and country, he suspects the questions raised in Anne Arundel County will return to the high court eventually.

“This issue is not over,” Pennak said Wednesday.

At the beginning of 2022, the Anne Arundel County Council unanimously passed Bill 108-21, ordering area gun shops to distribute pamphlets on firearm safety and training, conflict resolution and suicide prevention. Pennak’s organization filed their first complaint three months later, claiming the law violated business owners’ First Amendment rights — the county ordinance, they argued, required sellers to express speech they may not agree with.

“We understand it’s not just Second Amendment rights we’re talking about,” Pennak said. “We’re talking about all constitutional rights.”

The case bounced between federal courts, with one judge ruling the information was permissible because it was unbiased and accurate, before it was appealed to the Supreme Court. The nine federal judges did not hear arguments from either side, but instead blocked the suit from elevating beyond the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Of the 12 federal circuit courts, the fourth is in Richmond and considers cases from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

On Tuesday, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman described the Supreme Court’s denial to proceed as a “validation” of the county’s efforts to curb gun-related deaths. According to Anne Arundel data, between 2018 and 2022, the most recent statistics, 155 people have used a firearm to commit or attempt suicide. And since 2018, 89 people have been killed by someone using a firearm, county and Capital Gazette data shows. This year, 10 of 12 homicides involved guns.

“My hope is that gun retailers recognize that providing this information is a good business practice, one that demonstrates their commitment to the safety of their customers and our communities,” Pittman said in a statement.

Maryland Shall Issue Inc., a nonprofit organization, is heading legal battles in state and federal court challenging other restrictions to gun owners and carry-permit holders. In several separate suits, they’ve pushed against red flag laws, which take guns away from those deemed a risk; ghost gun regulations; and the expansion of “sensitive” places where firearms cannot be taken.

The group’s petition to bring the Anne Arundel issue to the Supreme Court was endorsed in filings by attorney generals in 10 other states, including West Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Nebraska. Pennak called their support “significant,” but suggested if his group doesn’t file another suit, another likely will.

In a phone interview, Pennak refuted the county’s use of case law allowing states to have businesses display “purely factual and uncontroversial information,” so long as it is not “unduly burdensome.”

Anne Arundel attorneys argued the ordinance “advances a sufficiently weighty state interest” and should be permitted. Pennak, conversely, said the case in question, which produced the “Zauderer standard,” applies only to commercial speech related to “the terms under which … services will be available.” He said a hypothetical example of the county’s interpretation may force a gas station owner to hand out global warming literature at the pumps.

The Anne Arundel pamphlets are “just not what commercial speech is,” Pennak said, adding they “completely divorce the rationale” of the Zauderer standard.

On Tuesday, Pittman said the decisions of each court showed that “safety-focused and common-sense gun laws … are both constitutional and essential.”

Have a news tip? Contact Luke Parker at lparker @baltsun.com, 410-725-6214, or on X @lparkernews.