USA -(Ammoland.com)- The end of the crazy season in Annapolis is coming up on April 10. That is when the General Assembly must conclude its business (“sine die”).
Three items of particular note. The Bloomberg bills, SB 948 and HB 1448, (secondary transfers for long guns) have not made it out of committee in either the House of Delegates or the Senate.
Those bills would have criminalized the private sales of long guns unless the transfer was through a dealer. The bills required the buyer and seller to ask a dealer to treat the transfer as though it came out of the dealer’s inventory and thus do a NICS check on the transfer.
As we explained in testimony in both the House and the Senate, the FBI will not do a NICS check on private sales because those sales are not regulated by federal law. It is not too late for those bills to receive action, but it looks like they may be dead for this year.
The other bad bills are HB 159 and SB 946, the Campus Carry Bills. HB 159 passed the House but has not made it out of the Senate Judicial Proceedings committee yet. It would criminalize possession of any firearm on any public college property anywhere in the state with a 3-year jail term.
The Senate version, which is vastly different (and better) than the House version has passed the Senate but has not been acted on by the House. That bill would likewise ban possession on college property, but defines property much more narrowly and would impose, at maximum, a civil fine of $1,000.
Stay tuned on these bills. We expect the leadership to try to push one of these bills through. Time to write your representatives again in opposition to both bills.
In positive news, HB 1036 passed the House and got a hearing in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on March 28. That bill would repeal the requirement that an applicant for a carry permit first obtain training before even applying for a permit.
It would allow preliminary approval of an application by the State Police at which time the applicant would then have 120 days to obtain the mandatory training before getting the carry permit. This bill is still in the Senate Committee.
Now is a good time to write your senators and ask them to support HB 1036 in the Senate.
We have spent many hours in preparing written testimony and appearing before the General Assembly on these and other bills. As always, we appreciate your support!
Mark W. Pennak, President, MSI.
About Maryland Shall Issue:
Mission Statement: Maryland Shall Issue is an all volunteer, non-partisan effort dedicated to the preservation and advancement of all gunowners’ rights in Maryland, with a primary goal of CCW reform to allow all law-abiding citizens the right to carry a concealed weapon; and to the education of the community to the awareness that ‘shall issue’ laws have, in all cases, resulted in decreased rates of violent crime.
For more information, visit their https://www.vcdl.org/webapps/vcdl/2017leg.html.