Maryland passed SB 211

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http://www.washtimes.com/metro/default-20004422329.htm
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>April 4, 2000

Maryland House approves
measure on locks for guns

By Margie Hyslop
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


ANNAPOLIS — The House of Delegates approved Gov. Parris
N. Glendening's landmark gun-control initiative by an 83-57 vote
last night, but not before delegates had their say about having
Democratic leaders pressure them to pass a flawed Senate bill and
reject changes many agreed would improve it.
"We can't stop illegal products, so we go after legal products,"
said House Democratic Whip George W. Owings III. "What we
have done is we've said 'no' to persons with disabilities, police,
armored car guards.
"We're so concerned about gun safety that if we don't pass the
gun bill the tax credit [for gun safes and locks] disappears," said
Mr. Owings, who represents Calvert and Anne Arundel counties.
His remarks echoed frustrations even some Democrats
expressed over the political maneuvers used to push through a bill
widely acknowledged as flawed in several aspects — including its
treatment of adults who have certain offenses on their juvenile
record and lack of exemptions for people who are unable to use two
hands to operate the built-in locks that will be required on new
handguns sold after 2002.
The bill also will require buyers to purchase external safety locks
with all new handguns sold beginning Oct. 1.
During almost 2 and 1/2 hours of debate last night, legislators
rejected 10 amendments Democratic leaders feared would kill the
bill by sending it back to the Senate with little time left before the
legislative session ends on Monday.
The Responsible Gun Safety Act of 2000, which the Senate
approved March 27 on a 26-21 vote, now goes to the desk of Mr.
Glendening, who is eager to sign it.
"This bill will take a giant step toward creating safer
communities not just in Maryland but across the country," Mr.
Glendening said. He predicted that within 18 months six to 12
states will move forward on similar legislation. "I predict that it will
be almost impossible for gun makers to manufacture guns without
internal safety locks. The liability simply will be too great," he said.
President Clinton called Mr. Glendening and Lt. Gov. Kathleen
Kennedy Townsend less than 30 minutes after the vote to
congratulate them. The president said Maryland's success will
inspire other states.
Mr. Clinton told Mrs. Townsend he thought the vote would ease
the pressure on gun maker Smith & Wesson. Many retailers have
threatened to stop selling the company's products, angry that to stop
lawsuits, the company entered an agreement with federal authorities
to incorporate as-yet-undeveloped safety technology on their guns.

The strategy Democratic supporters implemented last night on
the floor mirrored that carried out in the House Judiciary
Committee, which voted Friday to move the bill to the House floor.
"I think there's one thing we should learn from this," Delegate
Kenneth Montague, Baltimore Democrat, told fellow Judiciary
Committee members then. "When we have the opportunity to write
our own bill, we should take it. I hope we never have to go through
the situation [again] when all the good ideas expressed cannot be
incorporated."
Yet the vote split largely along rural vs. urban lines, with
delegates from Western and Southern Maryland and the Eastern
Shore generally opposing the bill and those from the
Washington-Baltimore corridor supporting it.
Several Baltimore County Democrats joined rural legislators in
opposing the bill.
The only Republicans who voted for the bill were Delegates Jean
Cryor and Richard LaVay, both of Montgomery County. In the
Senate, the only Republicans supporting the bill were from
Montgomery and Prince George's counties.
Those Republicans apparently agreed with House Democratic
Leader John A. Hurson of Montgomery County who said: "We
have more to do . . . but we also need this bill."
Mr. Hurson urged legislators to join Massachusetts — which,
by regulation yesterday, mandated trigger locks on all new guns —
to help the nation in "turning the corner" on gun safety.
Mr. Owings is not the only ranking Democrat put in a tough
position by the power wielded by the governor, a fellow Democrat
— especially in the final days of the session.
As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Joseph F. Vallario Jr., a
longtime foe of mandatory sentences, found himself in the unlikely
position yesterday of having to defend five-year terms for anyone
caught possessing a handgun who has already been convicted of a
crime of violence or drug possession.
Mr. Vallario delayed action on a House bill that also contained
Mr. Glendening's proposal.
That left his committee on Friday, with just 10 days before the
session ends, few alternatives to keep the Glendening initiative alive
but to consider the Senate bill and, as House leadership requested,
to pass it without any change.
"The governor said we had to report out a clean bill," said
Delegate Anthony O'Donnell, a Republican representing Calvert and
St. Mary's counties. "Why? Because he wants to foist his executive
power onto this legislative body. We have three branches of
government."
Most Democrats called the bill a flawed but necessary "safety
measure."
Most Republicans said it was an incursion against law-abiding
persons' rights to own guns.
"It's not a slippery slope, it's an avalanche," said Delegate
Carmen Amedori, Carroll County Republican.[/quote]
 
The only good news is that both my wife and I can retire next year and move to a more firearm friendly state. Am considering Arizona but even there it seems that the dust storms are clouding some legislators vision.
 
JBP,

I invite you to Texas, sir! No state income tax and antigun politicians are fairly scarce, although unfortunately not completely unknown.
 
Gun-safety bill clears final hurdle
House votes 83-57 to require built-in handgun locks by 2003 http://www.sunspot.net/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?section=cover&pagename=story&storyid=1150310202371
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Michael Dresser
Sun Staff
Gun-safety bill The are the main provisions of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's gun-safety bill:

All handguns sold in Maryland as of Oct. 1 must come with external trigger locks. As of Jan. 1, 2003, all new handguns
must have built-in locks. Police guns will be exempt.

As amended, the bill no longer has a provision to require that handguns eventually be equipped with "smart-gun"
technology, such as fingerprint recognition. Instead, it requires a state board to report on such technology.

Many felons, upon release, will face mandatory minimum sentences of five years without parole if found with a firearm.

Handgun purchasers, as of Jan. 1, 2002, will be required to complete a two-hour gun-safety course but will not have to
pass a test.

Manufacturers will be required to send dealers a bullet casing from any handgun to be sold in Maryland. The dealer
must send it to state police for use in tracking guns used in crimes.

Some juvenile delinquents will be barred from owning handguns until age 30.

Maryland moved to the forefront of a national movement to make firearms safer as the General Assembly gave final
approval last night to legislation that will require handguns to come with built-in locks.

The bill goes to Gov. Parris N. Glendening for his signature. The governor proposed the gun-safety measure and spared
no effort to push it through the legislature.

His victory came on an 83-57 vote in the House of Delegates after legislators turned back repeated attempts to amend
the bill. That would have sent it back to the Senate, where it might have been defeated in the final days of the
Assembly session.

Glendening said the measure will set a new standard for gun safety.

"The bill makes a giant step toward creating safe communities, not only in Maryland but across the country," said
Glendening, who received a congratulatory phone call from President Clinton minutes after the vote.

Though the legislation is a compromise that eliminated the bill's original focus on high-tech "smart guns," advocates
praised it as the strongest gun-safety measure passed by any state to date.

"Once something starts happening in a state, other legislatures start looking at it very seriously," said Joe Sudbay,
political director of Handgun Control Inc. in Washington.

The legislation will require that all handguns sold in Maryland as of Oct. 1 come with external trigger locks. As of Jan. 1,
2003, the guns will have to be equipped with built-in locks that supporters say will help prevent accidental shootings,
suicides and the use of stolen handguns in crimes.

Another provision will make Maryland the first state to require manufacturers to submit bullet casings from each gun so
that police can trace weapons used in crimes.

The bill will not apply to any of the estimated 1.2 million handguns already in circulation in Maryland.

Opponents argued that the legislation will endanger gun owners who will end up fumbling with unwieldy locks as
criminals attack.

"Seconds can mean the difference between defending and losing the lives of our citizens," said Del. Joseph R. Bartlett,
a Frederick County Republican.

Opposition to the bill came from a coalition of Republicans and rural Democrats. Two of the House's 35 GOP delegates
-- Jean B. Cryor and Richard La Vay of Montgomery County -- voted in favor of the bill. Democrats split 81-24 in favor.

Last night's vote is a significant setback for the National Rifle Association, which ran ads ridiculing Glendening in a
last-ditch attempt to derail the bill. For the governor, passage of the bill is a notable personal and political success,
achieved despite formidable odds and with more than a little luck.

Futuristic devices

When Glendening proposed gun-safety legislation last summer, the initiative was met with considerable skepticism. His
proposal focused on futuristic devices that would personalize guns so that nobody but an authorized user could fire
them.

Opponents objected that such "smart guns" -- using technologies such as radio waves or fingerprint identification -- did
not exist and might not for many years.

Nevertheless, the original legislation would have required all new handguns to have such technology as early as 2003.

After the legislation was introduced in January, it sat in both houses with no significant action for two months. The
House declined to act until the Senate did. In the Senate, the bill was trapped in the conservative Judicial Proceedings
Committee. By mid-March, the bill appeared doomed to defeat in that committee.

But last month, Smith & Wesson entered into a legal settlement with the Clinton administration in which it pledged to
equip its handguns with safety features on a schedule similar to the one proposed in the governor's bill.

Most important, the gun manufacturer promised to put built-in locks in all of its handguns by 2002. That focused
attention on a similar requirement in the Glendening bill.

The Smith & Wesson agreement helped change the position of Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, who
previously had opposed the provision for built-in locks. He forged a compromise that required such locks by 2003 and
reduced the "smart-guns" provision to an annual report to the governor and General Assembly by a state board.

Then Miller invoked a rarely used rule to bypass Judicial Proceedings and bring the measure to the Senate floor, where
it passed 26-21 early last week after he rounded up the votes to avert a filibuster.

Risk avoided

The result was so close that supporters of the bill decided not to risk amending it in the House, which would have sent
the legislation back to the Senate.

The gun-safety bill survived a key vote Friday night in the House

Judiciary Committee. Some liberal members expressed reservations about provisions imposing five-year mandatory
minimum sentences on previously convicted felons caught with guns, and others questioned a section barring juvenile
delinquents from owning firearms until age 30.

But the committee did the governor's bidding and resisted all amendments.

Support rewarded

After that vote, Glendening submitted a $181 million supplemental budget that rewarded some members of the panel
and their county delegations.

At least three of the 14 members to vote for the bill -- Baltimore Del. Lisa A. Gladden and Prince George'ss Dels. David
M. Valderrama and Melony G. Griffith -- received funding for pet projects.

Glendening said last week that he had offered funding in exchange for support of the gun legislation, though
spokesman Michael Morrill said no projects in the budget changed anyone's vote.

Stephen Teret, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, said that although the internal locks
are not the same as personalized guns, they will save lives.

"I'm very grateful for any progress we've made in Maryland," he said. "Gun violence prevention occurs in small steps.
What we're seeing today is a small but very significant step in the right direction."


Sun staff writers Gady A. Epstein and Thomas W. Waldron contributed to this article.


Originally published on Apr 4 2000
 
Today they forced us to turn one coner;
this same time next year they will force us to take yet another coner.

Salimi slice up the second ammendment until
there be none left.
 
I was stationed in Southern MD years ago and traveled all over the state. MD was a mostly rural place filled with many farmers and fishermen. The slime is oozing from the beltway and screwing up the entire place!
 
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