Maryland – -(AmmoLand.com)- In 2016, as a part of the Justice Reinvestment Act, Maryland created a Justice Reinvestment Advisory Board with representatives from various government and citizen groups to serve as an independent check and balance on issues related to correctional detainment activities within Maryland.
- Then again, in 1999, the City of Baltimore was directed, by Maryland statute, to create the Civilian Review Board to allow citizen oversight of the Baltimore Police Department, with local representation from each Police District mandated under law.
- Once more, in 1998, following compliance requirements under Federal Law, the Citizens Review Board for Children was formed to allow direct citizen participation in the oversight of the activities of the various child protection system elements within the various jurisdictions of Maryland.
Why do I write a historical precis? For purely partisan political reasons, the Maryland General Assembly has decided to attack, with the intention of disbanding, the Handgun Permit Review Board.
This board, created by statute in 1972, has a 46 year history of reviewing Maryland State Police decisions concerning the issuance of handgun permits. The more recent iterations of the HPRB have been making decisions that are unpopular with the progressive leadership of the Maryland General Assembly because they have the audacity of holding the Maryland State Police Licensing Division to a plain interpretation of the actual statutory requirements for permit issuance. The progressive leadership refuses to admit that the Licensing Division is using arbitrary, capricious, and highly subjective standards that are not consistent across the application pool when deciding to whom to issue a permit and what restrictions, if any, are to be associated with the issuance.
CALL TO ACTION: Attend the upcoming HPRB Bill Hearings.
- Senate Bill 1000 (Senator Beidle) – Senate Executive Nominations Committee, March 8, 2019 @ 0900
- House Bill 1343 (Delegate Atterbeary) – House Judiciary Committee, March 12, 2019 @ 1300
The Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association will stand, once again, in strong defense of Constitutional Rights in front of the General Assembly to ensure the voices of law-abiding firearms owners are represented. Please see our Legislation Tracker for ready reference to current bill status and our positions on the issues presented.
Very respectfully,
Michael J. Doherty
2nd Vice President – Legislative Affairs
About Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association (MSRPA):
The Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association (MSRPA) is the flagship Gun Rights organization in and for the State of Maryland. The Association offers both individual and club memberships. Support of the shooting disciplines and legislative activities is primarily through a systems of committees. All participants are volunteers. In the face of a near tidal wave of citizen disarmament occurring in Maryland, the MSRPA has played a critical part in drawing the line and standing firm for Gun Rights. Without this resistance, things would have been much worse and been so much sooner. Now the objective is to continue to develop new activists with numerous individual skills who will help us bring Maryland into line with the rest of the states which have made strong gains in protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
For more information, visit: www.msrpa.org.