Marine Veteran Lloyd Muldrow says charges are violation of Second Amendment
It was July 4 in Baltimore when Marine Veteran Lloyd Muldrow remembered his training, leaping into action to rescue a friend and disarm an attacker.
Muldrow now faces possible jail time for possession of a gun for which he has a concealed-carry permit to carry in Virginia. He could also lose his clearance to maintain a job providing security to federal facilities.
After an Independence Day arrest, Muldrow is scheduled to have a jury trial in Baltimore Circuit Court on Oct. 31.
Muldrow, 57, a resident of Virginia Beach, didn’t use his sidearm in the rescue. But when Baltimore police arrived to arrest the attacker, they also arrested Muldrow on charges of possession of a gun within 100 feet of a public building and carrying a concealed weapon.
"With the amount of violence going on in Baltimore, Maryland, I’ve heard mayoral comments that ‘we are getting guns off the streets,’" Muldrow told Fox News. "That’s what I’m thinking. However, the mitigating circumstances here are, you are taking the wrong gun off the street."
During his April State of the City address, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said police took more than 573 guns off the streets and made 363 gun arrests. Further, the mayor said, 142 of those guns were used in crimes.
If convicted, Muldrow could face a maximum of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine. Muldrow started a GiveSendGo.com campaign to defray legal expenses because he is concerned that he will have to appeal. The GiveSendGo page includes police bodycam footage of the incident.
Muldrow has been a member of the Marine Corps Security Force Regiment, a security and anti-terrorism unit. He said he has trained other Marines in hand-to-hand combat and disarmed several enemies. He also has experience digging up improvised explosive devices.
When he saw his friend in danger, he said, "My natural reaction was to do as I was trained for my country."
The Baltimore Police Department did not comment on the case but referred to the police report on the matter. Prosecutors did not respond to inquiries for this story.
Muldrow was in Baltimore on the holiday to visit with his friend, Marshall Cullens, at Tequila Sunset Bar. When he got there, he saw Cullens in a struggle with a man later identified as Wesley Henderson, who was allegedly holding a gun.
Since Cullens was bleeding from his forehead, Muldrow feared he had been shot. It turned out the attacker pistol-whipped him, according to the police report. The report also says that police were unable to find the gun that witnesses said Henderson carried.
After a struggle, Muldrow disarmed Henderson. Muldrow and Cullens held Henderson on the ground until police arrived.
Muldrow volunteered the information to police at the scene that he had a sidearm, of which police took possession. Other police arrived and arrested Henderson.
However, that changed when a supervisor arrived on the scene and ordered subordinates to investigate if Muldrow's sidearm was legally allowed in Maryland. After determining that he wasn’t allowed to have a concealed-carry firearm in the state, police arrested Muldrow.
The police report says that Baltimore officers contacted the Maryland State Police, who advised that the alleged attacker, Henderson, could not own, carry or possess a firearm because of a 1996 conviction for battery and 1997 conviction for a handgun violation.
Regarding Muldrow, the Maryland State Police also "advised that a Virginia concealed carry permit does not apply in the state of Maryland, which means Mr. Muldrow is not permitted to conceal a firearm in the state of Maryland," the police report says.
Cullens can be heard on police bodycam footage telling officers, "If he hadn’t helped me, that guy would have killed me."
An officer responded, "I mean, look, the laws are the way they are in Maryland on handguns. Talk to city council, talk to your congressman about open-carry, especially about a Veteran who’s got a valid carry in another state."
Muldrow told Fox News his arrest is likely a constitutional violation.
"Is it violating the Second Amendment? Of course," Muldrow said. "When you are talking about military Veterans, we serve our country overseas against enemies foreign and domestic, and here we are facing a state-to-state carry law? I really feel it is an injustice to our Constitution. It’s a technicality from one state to another."
He said he is aware that Virginia and Maryland have different laws on concealed-carry permits but is also familiar with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen case, which held that New York’s law requiring an applicant for a concealed-carry license to show "proper cause" violated the Second Amendment.
After the high court ruling, Maryland’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan ordered his administration to stop enforcing the state’s "substantial reason" requirement for obtaining a concealed-carry license, saying, "It would be unconstitutional to continue enforcing this provision in state law."
Maryland law allows concealed-carry but doesn’t accept permits from other states.
Other witnesses at the scene spoke up for Muldrow.
"Lloyd Muldrow is an accomplished Marine, a self-defense instructor and a church-going mentor to young people," Muldrow’s lawyer, Michael Stark, said in a statement. "Now, because of Maryland’s outdated, and possibly unconstitutional gun laws, he faces jail as if he were every bit as criminally-minded as Mr. Henderson, rather than the selfless hero for his country and his friends that he proved himself to be."
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