Interesting Bills In The MD Legislature

Hearing Date January 26, 2010 1:00pm

•HB52 Recognition of Out of State Permits - Strongly Support

As we've told you previously, Delegate Mike Smigiel (R), District 36, Eastern Shore, has introduced HB52 which would recognize permits from states contiguous to Maryland. This bill would allow those citizens with permits in PA, WV, VA or DE to safely transit the state border without surrendering their rights at the state line. The State of Maryland would benefit from the revenue that these people would bring to our state because the antiquated laws on self-defense currently discourage them from visiting.

These citizens with permits have already passed all of the requirements for a permit in the state of issuance and there is no reason for them to not be entrusted with exercising their rights in Maryland.

We encourage you to first take the time to contact Delegate Smigiel and thank him for his support of the 2nd Amendment.

Then we need you to use the Activist's Tools below to contact your District's Delegates and tell them to support the bill. Follow that up with letters to the members of the House Judiciary Committee. Emails are the way to go at this point, so make use of the excellent resources below.
The hearing for HB52 has been scheduled for Tuesday, January 26th at 1pm in the House Office Building. Information regarding parking and security procedures are also outlined below.

We encourage you to come and support the bill even if you don't feel comfortable speaking. This will be a good opportunity for you to observe the hearing process and maybe build your confidence for future testimony.

You may submit written testimony. This is entered into the official record of the proceedings and can not be dismissed in the way that an email can. You need 35 copies of any written testimony and it needs to be submitted to the committee office by 11am. Delegate Smigiel's Chief of Staff, Andi Moroney, has offered to make the copies and submit the testimony on your behalf if you email it to her.

•HB 119 Department of State Police - Firearm Applications - Authority of Secretary - Oppose as written

Would allow for dealers to submit firearms applications via means other than certified mail for fax. This bill does not specify what the "other" means would be. The language of the bill needs to be much more specific.

Hearing Date February 2, 2010 1:00PM

•HB157 Criminal Law - Use of Firearm in the Commission of a Crime of Violence or a Felony - Oppose

Prohibiting the use of specified firearms in the commission of crimes of violence or felonies; and defining "firearm".

Crimes of violence are already illegal. There is nothing in this bill that will change that. Making something "more illegal" will do nothing to deter violent people from committing acts of violence.
2. Senate Bill Summary, Status and hearing dates

•No hearing date set

•SB 22 Criminal Law - Prohibitions on Wearing, Carrying, or Transporting Firearms - Exceptions - Support

Establishing an exception to the prohibition against wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun or other regulated firearm for a person who is carrying a specified court order requiring the surrender of the handgun or other regulated firearm and who is in the immediate process of surrendering the handgun or other regulated firearm to law enforcement; etc.

This bill is a result of the domestic violence/firearms seizure laws enacted after the 2009 session and are being introduced due to Maryland firearms owners trying to comply with the law, being stopped for traffic infractions and subsequently being charged with violation of the firearms transport laws. The General Assembly crammed these bills down our throats last year so the best we can do with them at this point is to ensure that a firearm owner can't be doubly victimized if they are simply trying to comply with a court order.
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SB44 Criminal Law - Use of Firearm in the Commission of a Crime of Violence or a Felony - Oppose

This is the companion cross-filed bill to HB157 and we oppose it for the same reasons.

•SB167 Regulated Firearms - Application for Dealer's License - Record-Keeping and Reporting Requirements - Strongly Oppose

Requiring the Secretary of State Police or the Secretary's designee to disapprove an application for a State-regulated firearms dealer's license if the Secretary or designee determines that the applicant intends a specified person to participate or hold a specified interest in the management or operation of the business for which the license is sought; requiring licensed dealers to keep records of specified information; etc.

This bill will effectively make all firearms in the state of Maryland subject to a recordation of sale and thus creating a database of these firearms that is available to the State Police. Currently, non-regulated firearms are not subject to recordation of sale in the manner that handguns or regulated long guns are. This is a huge leap in the intrusion of the state into affairs where they have previously been unable to go. Given the recent anecdotal reports of the Maryland State Police using the recordation of sales of handguns to cross reference ammunition purchases and then paying midnight visits to gunowners' homes, we are leery of granting any further powers to the state.

Further, this broad power grab would grant the state the ability to look at the federally mandated bound book of non-regulated purchases and access records of any purchases of non-regulated firearms that you have made.

Additionally, the onerous requirements of this bill would require a licensed dealer to report a firearm as lost or stolen within 48 hours of the discovery of a theft of a firearm. We defeated this sort of nonsense when it was applied to individual gun owners previously. While it sounds like a "reasonable" measure, who wants to entrust their business and their freedom to the hope that the state will believe a dealer's assessment of when the theft was discovered?

It also allows the State Police to inspect the inventory and records of a dealer at any time.
The sponsors of this bill, Senators Lenett, Frosh, Madaleno and Raskin need to be told in no uncertain terms that the state cannot be entrusted with more power in this area. Further, we need to contact the members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and put this abomination down.

What we need you to do:
•Use the Activist's Tools below to contact the members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and tell them that you strongly oppose SB167.
•Contact your State Senator and tell them that you strongly oppose SB167
•Contact Senators Lenett, Frosh, Madaleno and Raskin's offices and express your outrage at this power grab.

•SB191 - Weapon-Free Higher Education Zones - Oppose

This a repeat of last year's SB551/HB353 that was given an unfavorable report by the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee as well as the House Judiciary Committee. It would appear that the anti-gun faithful of the Senate are determined to throw anything they can out there to see if it will stick. The sponsors of this bill are a who's who of anti-gun legislators. We oppose the bill for the same reasons that we did last year. There is nothing in this bill that is not already covered in Maryland law. Furthermore, it leaves unsuspecting citizens vulnerable to exposure of arrest even if they are otherwise in compliance with all of Maryland's onerous laws. Given that university boundaries are not absolute and are often times not clearly defined, people could find themselves on a college campus and not even be aware of it.