> [Relayed from the MDRKBA list's weekend report.]
>
>As we go into the new week, it's important that you help your teams sort
>out what has happened and also -- most important -- focus on the mission
>to kill the Governor's gun grab. This certainly is a discouraging time
>for our community: news reports about a "compromise" that "both sides can
>live with" only rub the wounds raw, and misinformation is already being
>spread. Help your teams to understand, but don't let the bleak situation
>get in the way of stop them from doing what needs to be done. We are very
>likely beat, but naturally we can never give up.
>
>WHAT HAPPENED
>
>The movers and shakers behind this bill first made their own deal about what
>to ram through, then they proceeded accordingly. Senators Miller and Baker,
>the Governor's lobbyist (Joe Bryce) and Beretta's lobbyist (Gerry Evans)
>signed off and then Miller set things in motion. They and their crew
>yanked the administration bill to the floor, by brute force and willingness
>to abandon their own Senate rules. By late thursday, Senate opponents were
>deep into preparations to do battle, preparing amendments and fine tuning
>plans for how and when to begin the filibuster. We had just enough support
>to sustain a filibuster. It would be a hard row to hoe, but that is our lot
>as gunowners in Maryland.
>
>It is typical for opponents of a bill to select one legislator to take the
>lead on behalf of the group, and Senator Tim Ferguson assumed this rule on
>the gun bill. At a strategy session early friday morning, he arrived to
>drop his bombshell: without telling any ahead of time, he had proposed his
>own deal to the governor, a deal which was quickly accepted.
>
>In return for little, if anything, for gun owners, Ferguson promised our side
>would not filibuster, nor try to amend the bill, nor even give extended debate
>on the matter.
>
>It's fair to say that most opponents who heard this bombshell were horrified
>friday morning. Frankly, nobody thought that freedom to speak for the group
>would be seen as freedom to capitulate for the group. The only clue we have
>about his motive is in his public statement (made in the lobby during a 5 min
>recess while working on this bill) that gunowners have "failed to be there
>for [him]" and hadn't "even attend[ed] $25 chicken dinner fund raisers." His
>statements seem both disingenuous and highly inappropriate to link to liberty
>issues, but that will be a matter for him to sort out with his constituents.
>
>Ferguson got two amendments:
>1. The Handgun Roster Board will be expanded by two slots.
>2. The language concerning firearm safety mandates was modified.
>
>We're not entirely certain where #1 came from. Nobody from our team ever
>suggested it, and the closest anyone came to mentioning this in testimony
>had to do with the balance of appointments in the new commissions proposed
>by the governor to study smart guns. (Smart guns, as you know, were dropped
>in the Baker/Miller/Glendening/Beretta deal, well before our side had a shot
>at seeing the language.) The best we can guess at this time is that this was
>suggested by Miller as a way to help Ferguson muddy the water, to let him
>tell people in the firearms community that he "got something".
>
>Concerning #2, we were definitely interested in repair of the safety mandate
>language. The original proposal channeled handgun buyers through the state
>for a class, and this bottleneck presented the great likelihood that MSP may
>stop handgun sales simply by stopping the class. (It also represents a new
>way for MSP to build databases on students ... a de facto licensing idea they
>did not get in the other bill.) Much of our attention had been focused on
>how to introduce other valid ways for someone to meet the requirement.
>
>Ferguson's surprise language was drafted by the administration, and he
>was so intent on helping Miller that when the text was brought to the floor,
>he refused to ask for even a one hour lay over in order to give time for us
>to study it. (This hour is guaranteed by the rules had he wanted it but of
>course we know how rules are treated in the senate now.) Once the dust had
>settled and our side had a chance to read the language, we found that none
>of what he "fought for" has the desired effect.
>
>That's right. Our friendly senators were hoodwinked.
>
>The new language only reads such that the commission may approve certain
>outside individuals to teach the commission's course. Whatever that turns
>out to be. And because the mandate kicks in before the commission must be
>formed, we'll have a couple months in Maryland when technically it may be
>impossible to buy a handgun legally.
>
>We've heard talk about changes in the definition of the integrated safety
>devices that will somehow help us. No amendments dealt with this language,
>so we are unsure what basis such rumormongering has. Most likely this is
>more whistling in the dark by someone concerned about the truth spreading
>back in his home district.
>
>Our friendly senators have really been hung out to dry by this process. A
>deal is a deal, even if made on their behalf by someone who believes Mike
>Miller can do more for him than can constituents. Trying to halt the bill
>on third reader (monday) will not succeed for no other reason than senators
>we had lined up for filibuster before won't want to be a part of something
>seen as going back on their word.
>
>HERE'S WHAT TO DO
>
>With the unprecedented loss in the Senate, our attention must focus on
>drawing down more grassroots feedback to Delegates who will be considering
>this bill VERY shortly. You already have the membership for House Judiciary
>Committee. USE IT. Appended is the text for the latest postcard alert which
>went out accordingly.
>
>Hang in there. We have two weeks remaining in the Session, plenty enough
>time for the good Lord to bless us with a victory if we do our part!
>
>-- Jim
>
>===========================================================================
>
>Governor Glendening just perverted General Assembly rules to drive a new gun
>control grab bag through the Senate in Annapolis. He's helping his buddy Bill
>Clinton build momentum for more national gun controls. Now the House of
>Delegates is being ordered to pass Glendening's bill, which bans sale of
>handguns that don't have internal locks, and prohibits you from buying your
>gun until you prove to the State Police you have passed a state-mandated class
>that bureaurats get to make up later.
>
>The only legislator left with enough clout to slow this down is Speaker of the
>House Casper Taylor. He has only two choices: Use the power of his office to
>protect liberty, or use it to force his House of Delegates to pass the Clinton
>/Glendening plan as dictated to him. (In 1996's gun grab, he drove Delegates
>to back Glendening's bill, then once he had enough votes to pass it, voted
>"no" himself and told folks back home he was pro gun.)
>
>Time is short! Call Cas Taylor today at 800 492 7122, ext. 3800, and ask him
>to protect our freedom! (Call all of your legislators toll free at that number,
>and ask them the same thing!)
