Ritchie, I would highly advise against carrying without permit. Unfortunately, the courts have not held that ccw is necessarily protected by the Second Ammendment. This is because the ammendment is vague as to what constitutes the "militia". Like yourself, I believe that its purpose is to protect the rights of the individual. The anti's, who generally believe the lies and misdirection of Sarah Brady & the Million Misinformed Moms, hold that the clause only pertains to the States. Alas, the only people who knew for certain the true intent of the law have been dead for two centuries.
For the time being, suck it up & follow the laws of MD, no matter how nonsensical they mayy seem. Be secure in the knowledge that this assignment won't last forever. And to prepare yourself for any future assignments that you might get, go to
www.packing.org and investigate getting nonresident permits for other states. I personally have a resident permit for MI, and a nonres for FL. Between the two of them, I'm allowed to carry in 20 different states.
Also bear in mind that laws do get changed. Lawmakers are staring to realize that ccw actually reduces violent crime. Florida started the trend by being the first shall issue state. Nobody thought that law-abiding citizens in MI would ever be afforded the right to defend themselves, but just last year, MI went from may issue to shall issue.
Just as a side note, the packing.org website is down right now, but should be back online tomorrow (3/10) night. You'll find it to be very informative if you can ignore the members that are at the very far right or left when it comes to political views.
[addsig]
