Weapons

A joint session of two key House committees tweaked parts of Gov. Martin O'Malley's sweeping gun bill during the first five hours of a debate expected to last into the evening. The changes - which left intact the central provisions of handgun licensing and a ban on the sale of assault weapons - were made in the first public action since February on the legislation. The bill also limits magazines to ten bullets and addresses when people with mental illness can buy guns. Over the past month since the Senate passed the bill, lawmakers have been debating behind-the-scenes whether to scale back the ban on assault rifles to exclude some models, including the AR-15.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's sweeping gun control bill cleared a major hurdle Friday night as two committees sent a ban on assault-style weapons and a new handgun licensing scheme to the House floor. The central pieces of the governor's bill, already approved by the Maryland Senate, survived despite multiple amendments during a marathon eight-hour joint committee voting session that stretched late into Friday night. Led by Republicans, gun control opponents tried unsuccessfully to strip fingerprinting provisions and shooting proficiency requirements from the handgun licensing plan.

As a key committee is set to vote on his gun bill Friday, Gov. Martin O'Malley on Thursday called for public support for an assault weapons ban and other gun-control reforms. In an email sent by his political action committee, O'Malley criticized federal lawmakers for inaction in the wake of Newtown and urged for Maryland to "do something real. " "While Congressional Republicans continue to sit on their hands instead of acting on the President's commonsense plan, we don't have to wait on them here in Maryland," the email said.

Four weeks after Gov. Martin O'Malley's gun-control bill passed the Senate, a key House committee has yet to schedule a vote and continues to debate whether to scale it back. Among the possible changes still on the table: whether to take the AR-15 and a few other assault-style rifles off the list of guns whose sale would be banned. "We're still ruminating," said Del. Kathleen Dumais, vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a Democrat from Montgomery County. About a half-dozen lawmakers have been meeting once or twice a week behind closed doors to determine what changes -- if any -- they want to adopt to on a bill that would give Maryland some of the nation's strictest gun laws.

Given the lack of interest in Congress in protecting children from guns, it was nice to hear a grown-up in Washington speak on behalf of kids, any kids - in this case, the nearly 40,000 kids who live with same-sex parents in California. "They want their parents to have full recognition and full status," Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said during Tuesday's hearing on Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned gay marriage in California. "The voice of those children is important in this case, don't you think?"

Delegates are considering scaling back the assault weapons ban in Gov. Martin O'Malley's gun bill to keep legal the sale of guns used recent mass shootings in Newtown, Conn. and Aurora, Colo. O'Malley blasted an email to supporters Thursday morning, calling on them to contact lawmakers to keep the assault weapons ban intact. "Military-style assault weapons belong on the battlefield, NOT on the streets of our cities and towns," the email said. "We need you to ACT NOW. "  Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, flanked by police chiefs, held a press conference Thursday morning to urge lawmakers to pass the "common-sense, balanced approach" that has already been approved by the Senate.

Gov. Martin O'Malley and gun-control advocates launched an offensive Thursday to protect his proposed ban on assault-type weapons from a House committee's efforts to scale it back. "Military-style assault weapons belong on the battlefield, NOT on the streets of our cities and towns," said an email O'Malley's political action committee sent to gun-control supporters, urging them to lobby against efforts to exempt some guns used in recent mass shootings. "We need you to ACT NOW. " Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, flanked by police chiefs and state's attorneys, held a news conference Thursday morning calling for lawmakers to pass the "common-sense, balanced approach" that has already been approved by the state Senate.

In 2002, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo terrorized the Washington region for three weeks by firing bullets at innocent people in parking lots and at gas stations, ultimately killing 10 people and wounding three others. They used a Bushmaster XM-15 E2S rifle, one many variants of America's most popular assault weapon, the AR-15. In 2006, Kyle Aaron Huff used a Bushmaster when he opened fire at a post-rave party in Seattle, killing six before committing suicide. In 2007, Tyler Peterson used an AR-15 to kill six people at a homecoming party in Crandon, Wis. In 2012, a gunman opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 people and injuring 58 others.

After initially balking at The Baltimore Sun's request following an accidental shooting that critically injured a recruit, Baltimore police have released protocols and policies related to firearms exercises. With criminal and internal investigations pending, its unclear what specific policies might have been broken or how. But the documents make clear that no live firearm should have been present during the Feb. 12 training exercise. The policies state that a "safety officer" must be placed at every entrance or access point to ensure that no weapons are inside the training area.

A Baltimore City Sheriff's Office deputy suffered a gunshot wound after unintentionally firing the deputy's own firearm in a non-public area of the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center on Friday morning, Sheriff's Office officials said. Maj. Sam Cogen of the Sheriff's Office said that at approximately 8:02 a.m., a deputy unintentionally discharged one round from the service weapon while preparing for a duty shift and was struck in the left hip area. First aid was administered at the scene, and the deputy was transported to Maryland Shock Trauma with non-life-threatening injuries, Cogen said.