Gun Dealers

Opponents of Maryland's tough new gun-control law said Wednesday that they will not seek to petition it to referendum and instead will back a lawsuit planned by the National Rifle Association. "This is a constitutional right that should not go to the citizens to vote on," said Republican Del. Neil Parrott of Western Maryland, founder of the mdpetitions.com group that has successfully petitioned three other laws to referendum in the past two years. Flanked by representatives of the NRA, Maryland-based gun-rights groups, and other Republican lawmakers, Parrott announced the plans to a crowd of 70 at a Jessup fundraising event for mdpetitions.com.

Let me begin this column with an apology. Once a week, I pick an important issue and offer my reasoned analysis, based on the facts, of what it all means and how we should react. But there are times when the intellect fails and the heart and gut take over. And this is one of them. In the spring of 1968, I walked into the McCarthy for President office in San Francisco and signed up as a volunteer. That was my first taste of politics, and I've been involved in politics ever since, both as practitioner and observer.

Over the last few weeks we have witnessed the rallying cry from our elected leaders, both locally and nationally, for the need for more restrictive gun control (smaller magazine clips, banning certain "assault" weapons, etc.). The liberal left seems to hold the patent on exploiting current events to further their political agenda, and they're following the playbook step by step to further erode our right to bear arms, guaranteed to us in the Second Amendment. Some of the pro-gun control letters published in The Sun question why any hunter would need a so called "assault weapon" to go hunting, or they claim that our forefathers only intended the amendment to be about muskets and single shot rifles, because that's what was around back then.

Opponents of Maryland's tough new gun-control law said Wednesday that they will not seek to petition it to referendum and instead will back a lawsuit planned by the National Rifle Association. "This is a constitutional right that should not go to the citizens to vote on," said Republican Del. Neil Parrott of Western Maryland, founder of the mdpetitions.com group that has successfully petitioned three other laws to referendum in the past two years. Flanked by representatives of the NRA, Maryland-based gun-rights groups, and other Republican lawmakers, Parrott announced the plans to a crowd of 70 at a Jessup fundraising event for mdpetitions.com.

WASHINGTON -- In a major step to curb the virtually unchecked growth of firearms dealers in the United States, the Clinton administration has begun requiring new applicants and those renewing their licenses to submit photographs and fingerprints and is asking them whether they are complying with local and state laws.Currently, only machine gun dealers -- a tiny fraction of the 266,000 licensed firearms dealers -- are required to produce photo IDs and fingerprints.The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which regulates the gun industry, began mailing out the new four-page application form and a three-page questionnaire last week to new applicants and those wanting to renew their licenses.

WASHINGTON -Bull's Eye Shooter Supply - the Tacoma, Wash., gun store that armed the Washington, D.C.-area snipers - is the kind of bad-apple gun dealer that should be sanctioned, not protected, by the law. When John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo - both prohibited gun buyers under federal law - needed a sniper rifle to carry out their deadly rampage, they found the perfect store in Bull's Eye, a dealer unable to account for hundreds of missing guns...

The House of Delegates voted Wednesday to give Maryland one of the toughest gun laws in the nation, passing a bill that would ban the sale of assault-type weapons, set a 10-bullet limit on magazines and require fingerprints and a license to buy a handgun. Delegates altered the Senate's bill during more than 10 hours of emotional floor debate that lasted over two days. Key lawmakers said they expect the differences to be resolved quickly and the legislation sent to Gov. Martin O'Malley for his promised signature.

A fund-raising letter from the leader of a gun dealers group on behalf of Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey suggests that if elected governor, she would undo state gun-control regulations -- an appeal that has angered gun-control advocates and others.The August letter to gun dealers from Sanford Abrams, vice president of the Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers Association Inc., calls Sauerbrey "the savior of our industry."Ellen Sauerbrey will not only veto any anti-gun legislation, but through regulations and executive orders can actually start to reverse the damage caused" during Gov. Parris N. Glendening's four-year term, Abrams wrote.

He owns a .40-caliber pistol, is a member of the National Rifle Association and the rural district he represents as a member of the Anne Arundel County Council is home to scores of hunters. With all that in mind, Councilman Jerry Walker is adamant about amending a recently passed county law in order to exempt licensed secondhand firearms dealers from having to report their acquisitions to Anne Arundel police. The county requirement is duplicative, said Walker, because state law requires gun dealers across Maryland to document all transactions — though the state police are only required to audit the information every three years.

The nationwide anxiety that spawned the 1994 federal crime bill wasn't aimed at Neil S. Kravitz's rural home business -- making special bullets for target shooters -- but it hit his bull's eye anyway.A minor provision requiring local police to ensure that people with federal gun dealers' licenses abide by all local laws, including zoning laws, is threatening to put Kravitz out of business.And he's upset."I just don't understand it," says Kravitz, who lives near Glyndon in Baltimore County.

How could it be that even a single U.S. senator - no matter how opposed to gun control - could vote to hold up consideration of a proposal to require background checks for gun purchases? This is an idea not only embraced by something in the order of 91 percent of the American public but 85 percent of National Rifle Association members. Yet, there it was. Thirty-one senators voted against allowing the Senate to debate the background check proposal this morning. That was a victory, of sorts, as some senators had threatened to filibuster the procedural vote.

The Maryland Senate gave final approval to Gov. Martin O'Malley's sweeping gun control bill Thursday night, sending the legislation to the governor for his promised signature. O'Malley said in a statement that the bill strikes "a balance between protecting the safety of law enforcement and our children, and respecting the traditions of hunters and law-abiding citizens to purchase handguns for self-protection. " The legislation bans the sale of assault-style weapons, requires fingerprints and a license to buy a handgun, and limits magazines to 10 bullets, among other provisions, giving Maryland one of the strictest gun laws in the nation.

The House of Delegates voted Wednesday to give Maryland one of the toughest gun laws in the nation, passing a bill that would ban the sale of assault-type weapons, set a 10-bullet limit on magazines and require fingerprints and a license to buy a handgun. Delegates altered the Senate's bill during more than 10 hours of emotional floor debate that lasted over two days. Key lawmakers said they expect the differences to be resolved quickly and the legislation sent to Gov. Martin O'Malley for his promised signature.

A reality of the far-reaching gun regulations approved by committees in the House of Delegates on Friday night: Marylanders likely will buy more assault-style weapons in the next six months than they would have without a new law. In fact, it seems like the current version of the legislation encourages sales. Gun dealers would be allowed to sell out their present inventories of assault-style rifles even after the ban takes effect Oct. 1. If a Marylander just places an order for such a gun before then, he could still legally own it. You might ask: If something warrants banning, why wait six months to implement it?

When the marathon ended Thursday, when Maryland senators voted decisively to pass a sweeping gun control bill, Sen. Brian Frosh kissed his wife. Then he hugged the governor's chief lobbyist. In the marbled gallery of the State House, a gun control advocate turned to Frosh and shouted, "Our hero!" The soft-spoken Montgomery County Democrat shepherded Gov. Martin O'Malley's top legislative priority through the Senate, leading the more than 12 hours of floor debate on the plan to strengthen Maryland's gun laws in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shooting.

A background check for anyone wanting to buy a gun is something the vast majority of people in this country agree makes common sense ("We deserve a vote," Feb. 17). If licensed gun dealers must do it, obviously it makes no sense to exempt those 40 percent of gun purchases that evade the checks by going through private sellers. Case closed. I'm sure every serious person also wants to see gun violence in this country decline. So universal background checks should be an easy vote for every member of Congress, no matter what state they represent.

The new national system of instant background checks for potential firearms purchasers is living up to its name after all.After an ignominious start marred by long delays and a midday shutdown when the system was introduced Nov. 30, Maryland gun dealers say most reviews by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (or NICS) are being completed in a couple of minutes.While some dealers describe the system as intrusive and unnecessary, they have largely muted the anger and frustration they expressed on the first day, when they were unable to make sales of shotguns and rifles because they could not complete the calls needed to make the checks.

Exploding a long-held myth about stolen guns and the violent street culture they spawn, a new federal study reveals that a large number of guns seized in Baltimore and other cities are bought legally and quickly handed over to criminals.The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said its findings show that criminals do not have to forage for stolen, older-model guns. Rather, with the acquiescence of corrupt gun dealers, middlemen help criminals obtain new firearms without having to pay higher street-level prices.

Letter writer Becky Wagner, the executive director of Advocates for Children and Youth, makes an emotional plea for Maryland legislators to support series of bills that would ban assault weapons, close down gun dealers who violate the law, require everyone who owns firearms to report lost or stolen guns to authorities and deter straw purchasers from transferring guns to people who should not have them ("We can stop guns from killing our children," Feb....

The death of children at Sandy Hook Elementary captivated our attention and caused us to examine the state's view on gun control and how best to keep its citizens safe. However, the sad and startling fact is that Maryland has had its own Sandy Hook tragedy every year from 2005-2011. What was even worse: No one noticed. Between 2005 and 2011, 150 of our children under the age of 18 were murdered by guns. Of those 150 children, the vast majority died in Baltimore City and Prince Georges County, more than two-thirds were African American, and 94 percent of them were killed by handguns.