A legal battle is brewing in Georgia over whether licensed gun owners should be allowed to carry firearms to churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship after state lawmakers banned them from doing so last year.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta heard arguments Thursday on a lawsuit brought by a central Georgia church and the gun-rights group GeorgiaCarry.org claiming that the law violates their constitutionally protected religious freedoms. State lawyers said it was a small price to pay to allow other worshippers to pray without fearing for their safety.

The panel of judges roundly criticized the suit after hearing oral arguments but didn’t immediately make a ruling.

Georgia is one of a handful of states with the restrictions – court papers say Arkansas, Mississippi and North Dakota have also adopted similar laws – and court observers and Second Amendment groups are closely watching the outcome of this case.

If Thursday’s arguments are any indication, the challengers are facing a tough fight. All three judges on the panel raised technical legal concerns about the lawsuit targeting the 2010 law that banned people from carrying weapons into houses of worship.

It seemed the biggest stumbling block was the group’s decision to target the state but not the local prosecutors and authorities who would actually enforce the law. Judges pounced on GeorgiaCarry.org attorney John Monroe as soon as he began making his arguments.

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