Background Checks

I support the National Rifle Association's position of stationing armed guards at every school ("NRA to America: Blame yourself, not us," Dec. 21). However, I do not want my taxes increased to pay for armed school guards. I want the gun owners themselves to pay for it. Tax all guns with a sales tax of 150 percent and charge a permit fee of $300 per year per gun to pay for more armed school police. Also ban assault weapons, require background checks and mental evaluations to be paid for by potential gun owners, ban ammunition clips of more than 10 rounds and require all guns to be kept locked up. People with guns kill a lot of people.

I seldom feel compelled to write a letter to the editor, but Dan Rodricks column on gun control was spot on ("A move toward reason on gun control?" Feb. 14). I am a registered nurse practitioner, and for the past 10 years or so, in New Hampshire and Maryland, I have been required to have digital fingerprinting and national background checks done before I could renew my nursing license. I am also required to maintain current medical knowledge through continuing education - at my own expense, generally.

Maryland Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen will join with gun control campaigners and religious leaders in a rally against gun violence on the National Mall Saturday. The advocates plan to march in silence at 11 a.m. from the Capitol to the Washington Monument where Van Hollen and others will speak. "I have long been a supporter of common sense measures to prevent gun violence," Van Hollen said in a statement. "Banning assault-style weapons, restricting high-capacity magazines, and implementing a system for universal background checks are just a few of the ways we can help make our communities safer.

In sport, fittingly enough, there are two competing schools of thought on the nature of athletic competition. "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing," is the credo of one of the schools of thought. "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game," is the noble proclamation of the other. It's possible to make a credible argument that either sentiment is at the heart of what makes physical competition such a vital part of what it means to be human. Indeed, it is possible to conclude that the ideal of winning doesn't necessarily mean running faster, jumping higher or scoring more points against a worthy opponent, but that winning is simply the act of performing at the highest level possible.

Maryland State Police have failed to make expedient background checks as far back as 1995, resulting in recalls of weapons accidentally sold to convicted criminals -- including, recently, an attempted rapist.A 1995 audit of the police agency's criminal background check system commissioned by Del. Cheryl C. Kagan, a Montgomery County Democrat, revealed delays of up to 97 days on some checks for potential gun owners."The state police are frantically trying to recover from an embarrassing mismanagement issue," Kagan said.

Tip of the week: Employee background checks Pre-employment background checks are a necessary and cost-effective screening tool that may help avoid lawsuits. Amid concerns of workplace violence, employee theft, wrongful discharge and discrimination claims, background checks are gaining in popularity. Pre-employment checks include: criminal background checks, drug tests, credit checks, driving tests, psychological tests, reference checks, etc. Tests should measure the skills and abilities relevant to the particular job the applicant is seeking.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Police Chief Jim Johnson on Monday called on state and federal lawmakers to strengthen laws on background checks for gun buyers and stop the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in the wake of the Connecticut school mass shooting that left 28 dead. "This is not the time to be timid," Kamenetz said at a news conference, reading from an open letter he wrote to Maryland's state and federal elected officials. "We cannot sit by and do nothing.

While Maryland's comptroller and treasurer were busy keeping tabs on taxpayers' money, someone was stealing some of those officials' personal funds.The thief stole more than $300 in cash that Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein had left in a bag in his private bathroom at the State Treasury Building in Annapolis, according to District Court documents filed in Annapolis.The Goldstein theft occurred on Feb. 19. The next day a thief took $80 from a handbag that Treasurer Lucille Maurer had left in her office in the same building, court documents say.Maurer said she and Goldstein had not been in their offices at the times of the thefts.

MARYLAND'S CUSTODIAN of children in crisis was wise to quickly step in after a much-needed bill to regulate guardianship failed in the General Assembly. The Department of Human Resources says it will rewrite regulations covering children in its care to require screening of prospective permanent guardians, be they family or friends. The background checks, expected to be much like those in place for prospective foster care parents, will greatly help judges deciding these most important placements.

AMERICANS may get safer guns after all. Smith & Wesson's agreement last week to settle lawsuits with the federal government and 28 local governments not only protects the company -- it has also changed the debate over gun safety. The agreement -- which contains many of the reforms President Clinton has asked Congress to approve -- sidesteps the congressional logjam. Smith & Wesson agreed to restrictions such as background checks at gun shows and designing guns so children can't fire them.