Gun Violence

Maryland's Senate opened Thursday with an early session on gun-control that could yield a final vote for the chamber on a bill that would ban the sale of assault-style rifles, keep guns away from some people with mental illnesses and require a license to buy a handgun. Baltimore Sen. Nathaniel McFadden said the need for stricter gun laws transcends the Newtown shooting massacre, which killed 26 people and sparked national calls for more gun control. "We don't have our Newtowns or Columbines in our neighborhood," McFadden said, adding that Baltimore instead lives with gun violence every day. "You can get a gun quicker than you can get an apple or an orange in my community.

The Maryland Senate approved a sweeping gun-control bill Thursday that would give the state one of the strictest firearm laws in the country. The contentious issue moved immediately to the House of Delegates, where the chamber's first public hearing on the bill and a rally by supporters are expected to draw thousands to Annapolis on Friday. The Senate's 28-19 vote in support of Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill came after more than 12 hours of often-emotional debate Wednesday and Thursday.

The centerpiece of Gov. Martin O'Malley's gun control bill survived the Maryland Senate intact Wednesday, though opponents vowed to keep fighting the proposal to give the state some of the nation's strictest gun laws. A new licensing provision at the heart of O'Malley's bill would require handgun buyers to give their fingerprints to the state police and to complete a training course. The law also would ban the sale of assault weapons and further limit access to guns by people with some mental illnesses.

Maryland senators alternatively questioned, challenged and heralded Gov. Martin O'Malley's gun-control bill for more than two hours Tuesday, a prelude to a debate expected to stretch through the week as lawmakers wrestle over whether to enact some of the country's strictest gun laws. Senators argued at length over whether to require a license to buy a handgun - a provision gun-control experts consider essential to stemming gun violence in Maryland but that opponents find unfair. While proponents say requiring fingerprints and training for a license makes it less likely someone would buy a gun only to pass it off to a criminal, Sen. E.J. Pipkin called licensing “a solution to a problem that doesn't exist in Maryland.” Pipkin, an Eastern Shore Republican, discounted research by a Johns Hopkins policy expert on whom Democratic leaders on gun control have relied.

In the debate over gun control, the National Rifle Association and supporters of the status quo are dictating a narrative that insists what is important is not limiting the number of guns in our country but targeting the mentally ill as potential perpetrators of gun violence ("Guns and mental illness," Feb. 21). Rather than suggest that identifying mentally unstable people will enable us to control gun violence, I would argue that anyone who owns an assault weapon is, by virtue of that very fact, likely to be mentally ill themselves.

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.

This week may well be the time when lawmakers in Annapolis decide whether the gun control legislation they pass in the wake of the Newton, Conn., school shooting actually does some good to reduce the rates of violence in Maryland or just sounds good at election time. Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal made it through the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee last week with its key provisions largely intact. But that progress is at serious risk when the bill hits the Senate floor, likely tomorrow or Wednesday.

Gun control will not work. When one matches FBI crime statistics with the states that have the most restrictive gun laws, one finds that nearly all the most restrictive states have the highest number of murders by firearms. This proves beyond doubt that gun control legislation increases the number of murders by firearms. Barry Rohder, Germantown Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Bowing to pressure from some fellow Democrats in the legislature, Gov. Martin O'Malley has signaled a willingness to compromise on at least one element in the package of new gun restrictions he proposed in the aftermath of last year's school shooting in Newtown, Conn. And in a surprise, given the massive lobbying effort against his bill, the change actually makes it better. Aides now say the governor will support a provision to keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill people that is even tougher than one presently on the books.

Regarding your editorial on President Obama's State of the Union plea for Congress to act on gun control, Marylander's deserve much more than a vote, they deserve true representation ("We deserve a vote," Feb. 17). The editorial highlighted the president's call for the voices of the victims of gun violence be heard, and it denounced the NRA, Republicans and certain Democrats for opposing legislation that would ban military-style assault rifles and large-capacity ammunition magazines.