Montgomery County rabbi opposes gun buffer around places of worship

ROCKVILLE, Md. (7News) — A Montgomery County rabbi is challenging a county law restricting firearms near places of worship, arguing the measure violates both his constitutional rights and his congregation’s ability to provide for its own security.

Rabbi Menashe Shapiro told 7News that Bill 23-26, which prohibits people from carrying firearms within 100 yards of certain public places, including houses of worship, parks, schools and libraries, puts Jewish congregations at greater risk.

“At this point, what they’ve done is pretty dangerous,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro argued the measure improperly allows the county to dictate how synagogues protect themselves.

“Montgomery County asserts an authority to come into your house of worship and tell you how you are, yes, allowed to defend yourself and no, not allowed to defend yourself,” he said. “They wouldn’t go in your home to tell you that, and it’s embarrassing that they think they can do it in your synagogue.”

Shapiro said the issue extends beyond the Second Amendment, arguing that his faith requires congregations to take responsibility for their own security.

“According to our interpretation of religious law, you have an obligation to provide for your own security,” he said.

His legal complaint states that many synagogues rely on trained volunteer security teams made up of members of their own congregations. While Bill 23-26 provides an exception for hired security personnel, Shapiro said that option is financially unrealistic for many houses of worship.

“For us, we have services that start very early in the morning and services that run very late,” Shapiro said. “It is prohibitively expensive to tell the synagogue, ‘Oh, you can just hire someone.’ Well, it’s not so simple and it’s not so cheap.”

Shapiro said he and other members of the Jewish community raised their concerns with county leaders before the bill was approved but did not see changes made to the legislation.

According to a county news release, Bill 23-26 was adopted to bring Montgomery County into compliance with a Maryland Supreme Court decision.

Shapiro said that, amid rising concerns about antisemitism, restricting volunteer security could leave synagogues more vulnerable.

“It’s unfortunately very possible that someone sees that Montgomery County Council has decided that houses of worship and, in particular, synagogues no longer are allowed to defend themselves in practical ways,” Shapiro said.