Gun Laws

Maryland has some of the toughest gun laws in the country — and Baltimore's are even stricter — yet the city continues to struggle with rampant gun violence as thousands of criminals gain access to firearms. And for supporters and opponents of tighter gun laws alike, that dichotomy illustrates both the promise and the challenge of the state and national debates. Gun control advocates say persistent urban violence in a city with firm authority over legal gun transactions shows that the government needs to crack down harder on the illegal transmission of weapons.

Amid all this frenzy to pass more gun laws which will probably not be enforced (there are already an estimated 430 gun laws per state), how come no one suggests amending the Second Amendment to apply to an era with much more crime? Are lawmakers, officials and citizens afraid of an extremely biased end product, or is the amendment process too slow for an instant gratification society? Donald Holland, Baltimore Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

As a legal owner of a firearm in Maryland and a registered Democrat who voted for Gov. Martin O'Malley in the last two election cycles, I was initially supportive of the push following the Newtown tragedy for new gun legislation ("O'Malley to push stricter gun limits," Jan. 15). However, as time has passed since that tragedy, I have come to see that Governor O'Malley's push for new gun legislation is an attempt to use the Newtown tragedy as a way to further his own political career and cement his standing with the base of the Democratic Party in preparation for a run for President in 2016.

Has anyone thought about the correlation between today's gun violence today and the decline of moral and religious values since the 1940s, '50s and early '60s? In those decades we allowed God in our schools, courts and businesses. Parents were allowed to discipline children when necessary (and the children survived). We were taught to respect our elders, hold doors for others and allow a vehicle to merge into our lane without a case of road rage. It did not take a village to raise a child.

Outspoken Del. Patrick L. McDonough outlined his plans for tough penalties for gun crimes as firearms owners gathered at a Bel Air shooting range as part of a national series of events to push back against proposed gun control measures. "What I'm mad as hell about is they want to take our Second Amendment rights away, but they don't care about people who are really committing the crimes," McDonough said of people proposing new gun laws. He was speaking at the Horst & McCann indoor gun range in Bel Air as part of a series of events dubbed "Gun Appreciation Day," by a Republican political consultant, and staged as a protest against new gun laws that President Barack Obama and governors including Martin O'Malley have proposed in the wake of the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.

I am writing to express my sincere disappointment at how lawful gun owners are treated in this state. Ever year, it seems, we are subjected to increasingly draconian gun laws that are in direct conflict with the Second Amendment (which the Supreme Court has held to be an individual right for the law abiding to own and carry firearms for self defense). If I may quote a Supreme Court in Murdock v. Pennsylvania, "No State shall convert a liberty into a privilege, license it, and charge a fee therefore.

I'd like to propose a hypothetical situation that too few people seem to be imagining themselves in these past few weeks. Please, consider this story: Through some paranormal revelation, you know that you will be mugged tomorrow at gunpoint. You don't know when exactly. You don't know what your assailant will look like. You only know that your attacker will be armed. As a law-abiding citizen of the great state of Maryland, you cannot go out and purchase a defensive weapon from a licensed dealer.

Haven't we had enough of Gov. Martin O'Malley's political grandstanding? Trying to one-up New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is not a substitute for governing ("O'Malley to focus on guns," Jan. 10). Maryland already has more gun laws than necessary. Pandering to President Obama's base is too much. Fact: Less than 1 percent of criminals convicted of gun violence used an assault rifle, and even fewer obtained those weapons at a gun show. Mr. O'Malley is great on the hot-button issues but not so much on less politically charged problems.

Like many of Gov. Martin O'Malley's constituents, I strongly urge him to withdraw any legislation to ban so-called "assault weapons" and "high capacity" magazines. He should stop any legislation that creates gun-free zones and not make laws that hurt law-abiding citizens and hinder commerce in this state. Paradoxically, gun control clears a path for violence and makes aggression more likely. Creating gun-free zones doesn't make a difference to a criminal who intends to do harm. If gun-free zones made a difference, why would the worst shootings consistently happen in gun-free zones such as schools, malls and theaters?

Regarding Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler's recent commentary on gun violence, he should know that you can't legislate proper behavior ("Keep the focus on handguns in Md.," Jan. 14). I am not a crazed gun owner demanding my Second Amendment rights, even though I am against gun control. But I have lived every parent's worst nightmare: My 23-year-old son was murdered by a young thug with a gun on Aug. 31,1992. This was four years after the weapon used in the crime was banned in 1988.