 A law proposed in 2012 that would ban youths from buying any items from liquor stores was alleged to be racist against Koreans by the Korean-American Grocers & Licensed Beverage Association of Maryland.The legal adviser for the association compared the law to 19th century Chinese Laundry Laws which were used to close down Chinese-owned businesses in San Francisco.Following the death of Freddie Gray, many Korean-owned stores in Baltimore were damaged or looted during the 2015 Baltimore riot.