Gun Control

The politicians, pundits and public will debate until we're blue in the face about who is to blame for the tragedy in Tucson, Ariz., and like the political discourse of the past decade, there will be no winners. What is not debatable is the fact that if Jared Lee Loughner hadn't been able to purchase a Glock 19 semiautomatic handgun with four magazines capable of holding 33 rounds, there would be six fewer lives lost to handgun violence and 14 fewer injured. As long as our country allows lax laws governing the ownership of handguns, the American people must take collective responsibility for these deaths.

I am writing to share my perspective on the rush by President Barack Obama and Gov. Martin O'Malley to enact more gun control legislation ("Gun control at front of O'Malley's legislative list," Jan. 19). I feel that both are using the school shooting tragedies to further their political agendas. Background checks and gun show loopholes had nothing to do with the Sandy Hook, Conn., school shooting. The gun that was used was owned by the perpetrator's mother, and he killed her with it. The president and governor want to limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.

It seems that everyone has an opinion regarding having armed personnel at schools, whether or not to ban certain weapons and magazines, requiring licensing for possessing a hand gun along with finger printing of the purchasers ("Gun advocates detail plan to arm teachers," April 3). I have no agendas, so these views are based on common sense. As a grandparent, I would love to see an armed person at my grandchildren's schools. I don't necessarily think it should be an educator but maybe someone that has experience in protecting such as veteran who has served and protected a nation.

In response to the Sandy Hook shootings and the resulting uproar on weapons control, Gov. Martin O'Malley finally proposes legislation limiting the availability of guns purchased by the public and promises to allocate funds for increased safety in schools ("O'Malley to push stricter gun limits," Jan. 15). "Finally"? Yes finally, because the issue of guns and homicide remains far from a novel issue for citizens in Maryland, especially for those citizens of Baltimore City. The FBI's Uniform Crime Report showed 27,808 violent crimes reported in Maryland's metropolitan statistical areas in 2011, with 391 of these crimes labeled murder or non-negligent manslaughter.

As the Boston Marathon bombing case reminds us, we are potentially all under constant surveillance when we walk down the streets of an American city. Our public movements are videotaped, who we interact with is observed, and our cell phone calls readily traced. We accept these gross incursions on our civil liberties because, well, look what they've done! We got the bad guys! And, as testified to by the deliriously cheering crowds in Watertown who had been ordered to stay locked in their homes for the day, the loss of liberty and freedom entailed was well worth the price.

Responding to gun control loopholes that have proved vexing for police in Maryland and elsewhere, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings will introduce bipartisan legislation Tuesday to impose tougher penalties for people who traffic guns across state borders or buy them for someone else. The legislation, which has support from at least two Republican lawmakers, would make firearms trafficking a federal crime and would stiffen penalties for so-called straw purchases, in which people buy weapons - sometimes in large volume - for another person who would not clear a federal background check.

As an advocate and supporter of the Second Amendment "individual" right to keep and to bear arms, I felt a need to respond to letter writer John A. Pica Jr. ("Maryland needs tougher laws on gun access," Jan. 4) First of all, I have no problem with Mr. Pica, as long as his interest in better control of access to guns means access to guns which are already in the legal possession of law abiding citizens. If however, he intends his reference to be a need for more control over a citizen's right to purchase (legally "access")

A little-noticed provision tucked at the end of the sweeping gun legislation approved by the General Assembly last month would shield from view key state gun records that now are public — a change that was pushed by gun-rights advocates during the intense legislative debate and passed unknown to the most ardent gun-control supporters. Current laws allow the Maryland State Police to release the names of people who apply to buy guns, who hold collector's licenses and concealed-carry permits, as well as details about weapon sales.

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.

Every year, some 31,000 Americans are killed with guns; nearly 340,000 more are victimized in gun-related crimes, with more than 73,000 of those treated in hospital emergency rooms for nonfatal gunshot wounds. The rate of firearms-related homicide in the U.S. is 20 times that of the next 22 richest nations combined, yet measures to reduce the loss of life and the enormous economic and social costs of gun violence have become a virtual non-issue in this year's political campaign season.