In an attempt to stem a rising tide of gun store robberies, the Baltimore City Council is set to consider a bill that would require firearms retailers to stock weapons with their firing pins removed.
The proposal, scheduled to be introduced in the council today, is opposed by those most directly in the line of fire -- gun store owners.
Even the survivors of a Gardenville gun dealer slain during a brazen robbery in September say the law is unnecessary.
"I don't see any sense in this law," says Charles E. Scheuerman Jr., whose father was killed in the robbery.
But the sponsors of the bill say the proposed ordinance would make gun stores a less attractive target for criminals.
"In the past year or so, there has been a rash of robberies of gun stores, and there have been some murders," says Councilman Anthony J. Ambridge, a 2nd District Democrat and chief sponsor of the bill. "The motive is to steal guns, and those guns are finding their way onto the streets of Baltimore. . . . If the guns are rendered useless, there would be less incentive to steal them."
Mr. Scheuerman, who helps run the Northeast Gun Shop, says he doesn't need the City Council's help.
He patrols his family's Belair Road store with a loaded pistol strapped to his side to discourage anyone who might be tempted to steal some of the more than 1,000 guns on display.
The store is equipped with metal bars inside the windows and motion detectors on the roof. Potential customers are buzzed in through a door that remains locked even during business hours. Other clerks eye customers as they come and go.
Mr. Scheuerman says security was stepped up after his father was shot and killed.
The assailants also wounded a customer and looted 43 weapons from the shop. Nine men were arrested in the case, and six pleaded guilty last month.
The incident was among 19 gun store robberies in Maryland during the 18 months preceding February,says Bud Masterson, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Those robberies resulted in the theft of 358 firearms, 50 of which have been recovered, he says.
Mr. Scheuerman thinks the proposed ordinance is unnecessary. He also says it probably will be ineffective.
"People can get firing pins," he says. "You don't have to do any paperwork with the police to write a factory and order a firing pin."
He also says the law would be a burden for gun store owners.
