Gun Control

When Scott Schulte stopped at Pasadena Pawn and Gun last week to pick up his fifth firearm of the year, the Maryland State Police still hadn't finished his background check. The store let him take the pistol anyway. "I figure I can use my discretion," owner Frank Loane Sr. told Schulte. "I know you. " An unprecedented surge of applications to purchase guns has overwhelmed Maryland's system for checking out the buyers. Dealers are required to wait seven days before releasing a firearm — which in the past has been enough time for the state police to complete the background check.

I must take issue with a recent letter to the editor slamming the sheriff of Garrett County for his stand against enforcing the new gun law ("The booboisie emerges victorious," June 10). First, I'm a registered Democrat. Second, I never owned a gun and don't want one. But what upsets me about this letter is the reader's apparent belief that everyone outside the metropolitan area is a "brainless serf. " How does anyone have the arrogance to come up with this kind of thinking? During my career with the state, I have been to every county in Maryland and dealt with county and municipal administrators, elected officials, law enforcement officers, government employees and ordinary citizens.

The Maryland House passed the Firearm Safety Act of 2013 by a vote of 78 to 61 ("House passes gun control," April 4). The bill bans the sale or transfer of semiautomatic rifles and limits magazine capacity. Once signed by the governor, the law goes into effect on October 1. There are only seven states in America that have any restrictions on magazine capacity. Gun owners are free to purchase 100-round magazines in any of the other 43 states that respect gun rights. Those opposed to gun ownership know that gun owners will become politically active if they call for total bans on all firearms.

The hotly debated issues of gun control and the death penalty attracted fewer than 18,500 signatures ("What was all the fuss about?" June 3), while the seemingly more mundane issues of Owings Mills traffic, preserving Baltimore County's diminishing industrial opportunities and the undemocratic zoning process that makes those decisions attracted more than 170,000 signatures. The 170,000 signatures on the zoning petitions represent a number that is more than half of the Baltimore County residents who voted in the last election.

I would like to challenge several points made by Ron Smith in his column about gun ownership and gun control laws ( "Face the facts: Gun control laws don't save lives," Jan. 20). He disparages several "Democratic bastions" as being unrealistic as far as their attitude toward gun ownership and gun control laws. However statistics show that states with higher gun ownership and weak gun laws lead the nation in gun deaths rates per 100,000 people. For example Louisiana, Alabama, Alaska, Mississippi and Nevada have household gun ownership rates from 31.5 percent to 60.6 percent and gun death rates of 16.25 per 100,000 to 19.58 per 100,000.

Ron Smith, in his rush to defend lax gun laws ( "Face the facts: Gun control laws don't save lives," Jan. 22) appears to have stumbled on his own reasoning when he pointed out that Congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords also owned a Glock like the one used in the assassination attempt. What good did her Glock do her? Was she able to protect herself or any other victims? If neither she nor the assassin had access to such lethal weapons, would not many of lives have been saved? It appears that many advocates for lax gun laws ignore the obvious: A handgun is an offensive and not a defensive weapon.

I have several comments on the commentary written by Peter Morici ("The false security of gun-control measures," April 16). The common conclusion from gun rights advocates, one that has become quite wearisome, seems to be that if every shooting incident, injury, or death cannot be precluded by gun-control measures, then why even bother. This is a bankrupt argument. Were one to follow this philosophy to its (il)logical conclusion, one would stop brushing one's teeth upon the discovery of a cavity.

A recent poll shows National Rifle Association members overwhelmingly favor closing the gun show loophole, and that has the NRA fuming. Never mind that the poll was conducted by Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster who is on Fox News so often that he may as well be considered a network personality. Or that the same poll shows NRA members do support many pro-Second Amendment positions (against a national gun registry, for example). Once again, the NRA's leadership is out of step - not only with average Americans but even with people who identify themselves as NRA members.

Why didn't Jules Witcover use President Barack Obama's quote to the effect that "control measures as I have presented would most likely have not affected Newtown" ("Obama settles for half measures on gun control," March 19)? And another question: How much will the homicide rate go down in Baltimore with the Nanny-Governor Martin O'Malley's new gun control laws? Let me help you - zero. But good citizens will pay more and be fingerprinted. That's a big whoop! The disingenuousness is palpable.

Can somebody explain how is it that a couple of guys in a pick-up with assault rifles on the gun rack constitute a well-regulated militia? And how is it that law-abiding citizens who follow all the rules, keep the gun locked up, and the ammo locked up separately, can get to the gun in time to "protect" their families? And how about using assault rifles to hunt? Wouldn't the game be too destroyed to eat? Barbara McCord, Annapolis Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

When Scott Schulte stopped at Pasadena Pawn and Gun last week to pick up his fifth firearm of the year, the Maryland State Police still hadn't finished his background check. The store let him take the pistol anyway. "I figure I can use my discretion," owner Frank Loane Sr. told Schulte. "I know you. " An unprecedented surge of applications to purchase guns has overwhelmed Maryland's system for checking out the buyers. Dealers are required to wait seven days before releasing a firearm — which in the past has been enough time for the state police to complete the background check.

A growing revolt in rural counties against the state's new gun control law has spread to far Western Maryland, where the Garrett County sheriff declared the measure unconstitutional this week and said he would enforce only the provisions he believes are valid. The declaration by Sheriff Rob Corley follows the adoption of resolutions by the governing bodies of Carroll and Cecil counties saying those jurisdictions will not use any county resources to enforce the Maryland Firearms Safety Act, passed by the General Assembly this year and signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley in May. Among other things, the law bans the sales of certain guns classified as assault weapons, limits the size of bullet-holding magazines and requires new handgun purchasers to be licensed and fingerprinted to deter illegal purchases.

So what was all this about a voter referendum or two? Opponents of a pair of controversial measures backed by Gov. Martin O'Malley and approved this year by the Maryland General Assembly - a repeal of the death penalty and landmark gun control legislation - claimed the local populace was outraged by both. So certain was this that many fully expected them to be brought to referendum and defeated by voters in 2014. The petition drive to bring the death penalty repeal to referendum was even championed by Western Maryland Del. Neil Parrott who was instrumental in bringing three laws to referendum last year through use of a web site that made the signature-gathering process easier.

Maryland's new gun control law will not head to voters now that organizers of a petition drive to halt the law failed to turn in any signatures before Friday night's deadline. "This means there were no successful petitions this year," Stephen Ackerman from the Secretary of State's Office said in an email. A referendum would have delayed the gun law until after the November 2014 election, and the petition drive's failure was welcomed by gun control groups. "This is a great day for Maryland," said Vincent DeMarco, president of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence.

Maryland's new gun control law will not head to voters now that organizers of a petition drive to halt the law failed to turn in any signatures before Friday night's deadline. "This means there were no successful petitions this year," Stephen Ackerman from the Secretary of State's Office said in an email. A referendum would have delayed the gun law until after the November 2014, and the petition drive's failure was welcomed by gun control groups. "This is a great day for Maryland," said Vincent DeMarco, president of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence.

Your recent editorial regarding gun control made a glaring error ("Carroll Co.'s nullification fantasy," May 24). In recounting the new gun law in Maryland, you stated that the only difference for handgun buyers was "that buyers provide their fingerprints as part of the application. " The fingerprints are not for the application to purchase a handgun, but for a license that you must apply for before you fill out the application to purchase. Your fingerprints are then submitted to the FBI, along with a separate form.

Gun control doesn't stop bombings, and it doesn't prevent violent people from buying nails, BBs or pressure cookers. While I am supportive of gun control - and applaud Maryland for being one of the few states taking a strong stance on gun possession - tighter regulations will not prevent all violent attacks from occurring. In order to reach a real solution, the national discussion must go beyond gun control. For instance, how can we better predict who is likely to become a violent perpetrator?

Gov. Martin O'Malley on Thursday signed a gun-control bill that is among the country's most sweeping legislative responses to the December mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. The law bans the sale of assault-style rifles, including the AR-15 used in the Newtown killing of six educators and 20 first- and second-graders. The law limits gun ownership for people with mental illness, outlaws the sale of high-capacity magazines and establishes the nation's first new handgun licensing scheme in two decades.

Advertisements praising Maryland's new gun control law will appear on Baltimore-area televisions soon after the measure is signed Thursday - the first volley in a two-pronged effort to defend the legislation and the politicians who voted for it. The gun control advocates behind the ads want to bolster support among Maryland voters in case there's a referendum next year. But they also want to counter a campaign to oust lawmakers who backed the bill in the General Assembly. "We know that the other side will be attacking the legislators who voted for it, and we want people to know those legislators were doing the right thing to save lives in Maryland," said Vincent DeMarco, president of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence.