Here's the New MD AWB

[Norton]

I was tooling around the Maryland.gov website and found that Ehrlich supports Project Exile. This seems "doable" to me as it targets illegal ACTIONS with firearms rather than cosmetic features and "pre-crime" notions.

What am I missing about Project Exile? Good? Bad?

Project Exile

Governor Ehrlich’s commitment to reducing gun violence, empowering local prosecutors, and requiring convicted felons to be “exiled†for a period of five years is evidenced in the Administration Project Exile bill. Patterned after the successful Richmond, Virginia, Project Exile program that cut the homicide rate in that community by 36% during its first year of operation, Project Exile in Maryland is another weapon to fight the war on crime and gun violence.

The State’s murder and robbery rate are at unacceptable levels. Governor Ehrlich believes that it is time to get serious about making sure that criminals who commit gun crimes are punished. Further, those persons with violent and other serious criminal records should be prohibited from possessing firearms and subject to severe mandatory punishments if they do.

Governor Ehrlich will work in partnership with the United State’s Attorney’s Office to ensure that the worst of the violent criminals are subject to federal prosecution. It is clear, however, that the State must take the primary role in ridding the streets of these dangerous criminals. To do this, Governor Ehrlich has introduced legislation to bring Project Exile to the State.

Project Exile would do the following:

* prohibit a judicial review panel from decreasing a mandatory minimum sentence imposed for crimes involving firearms;
* prohibit a District Court Commissioner from releasing pretrial persons charged with serious gun crimes and allow a judge to order pretrial release only if satisfied the person will not be a danger;
* make it a felony and provide a mandatory minimum penalty to possess with criminal intent or use a firearm on school property;
* establish a mandatory minimum penalty of five-years for use of any firearm, not just a handgun, during the commission of a felony or violent crime;
* broaden the definition of crime of violence to include conspiracies to commit a crime of violence;
* prohibit persons with prior crime of violence and felony drug convictions, including out-of-state convictions, from possessing any firearm, not just a regulated firearm, and allow a court to impose a sentence up to 20 years for this offense, in addition to the mandatory five-year term that the law currently provides; and
* prohibit persons with any other prior felony conviction from possessing any firearm and provide for a sentence of not less than two years and not more than 10 years.

Governor Ehrlich’s tenacity and leadership in bringing Project Exile to Maryland is a significant step in ensuring the safety and protection of all of Maryland.

 

[Spot77]

I sent a very similar letter to Mr. Ehrlich, and also to Phil Jimeno, who has been a longtime resident of our community, and an all around decent guy despite being a Democrat

 

[Norton]

I cc'd the letter with some revisions to Senator Astle who is the senatorial guru for my zip.

 

[Norton]

Help me as I must have slept through this lesson in dear Mr. Lundquist's class in HS....

This is a senate bill......is there already a house version out there or does it get proposed in the senate first and then go to the delegates? In short, is their any point in writing to my delegate yet regarding a senate bill?

 

[Spot77]

I recall being enrolled in Mr. Lundquist's class, but I can't recall ever attending.

It doesn't matter; the more politicos that know we think this stinks the better.

Norton, make room for a visitor in the morning. I hope the other babies don't get jealous

....gotta' get that bunker finished

 

[Harry Tuttle]

there will be a house version and a senate version

Quinter marshalls the House one
Garagiola marshalls the Senate

heres our date:

SB 288 Maryland Assault Weapons Ban of 2004
Judicial Proceedings Committee
February 10, 2004
1 pm

last year the AWB was scheduled for March 13th
and it died in the chairmans drawer

they have fixed the "filibuster problem"
by setting the break point at 3/5ths instead of the old 2/3rds
and are going for Ehrlich desk.

i hope Bob has the backbone to VETO

www.mcrkba.org has links to the bill pages

 

[Harry Tuttle]

http://mlis.state.md.us/2004rs/subjects/guns$.htm


HB 45 _ _ _ _ Status as of January 14, 2004: Bill is in the House - First Reading Judiciary
Public Safety - Imitation Firearms - Prohibition
House: Judiciary _ _

HB 130 _ _ _ Status as of January 21, 2004: Bill is in the House - Re-assigned Judiciary
Searches of Students - School-Sponsored Trips - Teachers
House: Judiciary _ _ (Hearing: February 5, 2004, 1:00 p.m.) _ _

HB 151 _ _ _ Status as of January 21, 2004: Bill is in the House - First Reading Judiciary
Handguns - Wearing, Carrying, or Transporting - Law Enforcement Exception
House: Judiciary _ _

HB 152 _ _ _ Status as of January 21, 2004: Bill is in the House - First Reading Judiciary
Handgun Permits - Expiration
House: Judiciary _ _

HB 251 _ _ _ Status as of January 23, 2004: Bill is in the House - First Reading Judiciary
Public Safety - Handgun Identification Requirements - Repeal
House: Judiciary _ _

HB 269 _ _ _ Status as of January 26, 2004: Bill is in the House - First Reading Judiciary
Public Safety - Imitation Firearms - Prohibition
House: Judiciary _ _

HB 305 _ _ _ Status as of January 28, 2004: Bill is in the House - First Reading Judiciary
Criminal Law - Use of Firearm in Commission of Crime
House: Judiciary _ _

HB 392 _ _ _ Status as of January 29, 2004: Bill is in the House - First Reading Judiciary
Gun Shops - Storage Vaults for Regulated Firearms
House: Judiciary _ _

HB 410 _ _ _ Status as of January 29, 2004: Bill is in the House - First Reading Judiciary
Handguns - Identification Requirements - Repeal
House: Judiciary _ _

HB 414 _ _ _ Status as of January 29, 2004: Bill is in the House - First Reading Judiciary
Handgun Safety Devices - Repeal
House: Judiciary _ _

HB 444 _ _ _ Status as of January 29, 2004: Bill is in the House - First Reading Judiciary
Cecil County - Issuance of Handgun Permits
House: Judiciary _ _

HB 456 _ _ _ Status as of January 30, 2004: Bill is in the House - First Reading Judiciary
Firearms Offenses - Project Exile
House: Judiciary _ _

SB 10 _ _ _ _ Status as of January 14, 2004: Bill is in the Senate - First Reading Judicial Proceedings
Regulated Firearms - Ammunition - Active Duty Military Under Age 21
Senate: Judicial Proceedings _ _

SB 137 _ _ _ Status as of January 22, 2004: Bill is in the Senate - First Reading Judicial Proceedings
Self-Defense Act - Rule of Law
Senate: Judicial Proceedings _ _

SB 288 _ _ _ Status as of January 30, 2004: Bill is in the Senate - First Reading Judicial Proceedings
Maryland Assault Weapons Ban of 2004
Senate: Judicial Proceedings _ _ (Hearing: February 10, 2004, 1:00 p.m.) _ _

 

[Kharn]

My email:

Governor Ehrlich,
Please do everything you can to ensure that a new & improved "assault weapons" ban will not become law in our state.

Regulating firearms based on their scary appearance or small attached pieces of metal or wood is insane. A deer rifle is more accurate and much more powerful than any AR15 or AK47 will ever be.

Also, please continue the fight for Project Exile. We need to punish the criminals for their actions instead of imposing asinine gun control laws on the entire populace.

Thank you,

Kharn

 

[RangerHAAF]

If Governor Ehrlich has the intestinal fortitude to back up the pro-gun sentiment and words that he used to get himself elected he will veto this bill and say so early enough to let voters know where he stands on gun owners rights.

 

[Harry Tuttle]

heres what the Bradyites ran against Bobby in 2002:

http://web.archive.org/web/20021210060508/www.ehrlichandguns.com/assult.asp

Ehrlich Wants Military-Style Assault Weapons on Our Streets

*
As a member of Congress, Ehrlich aligned with the gun lobby and right-wing conservatives such as Newt Gingrich and voted in 1996 to repeal the federal assault weapons ban, a law supported by every law enforcement organization in the country (H.R. 125, Vote 92, 3/22/96). In fact, in a 1995 letter to a constituent, Ehrlich crowed about the fact that he campaigned and was elected to Congress on a platform calling for the repeal of the ban. The effort to repeal the law failed.
*

While serving in the Maryland House of Delegates, Ehrlich opposed the state's ban on assault weapons, voting against this life-saving measure ("Md. House clears way for assault pistol ban," Baltimore Sun, April 1, 1994). As a member of the Judiciary Committee, Ehrlich led the fight against the proposed ban, speaking out against the bill and trying to corral votes in committee to defeat it. In 1994, Maryland became the fifth state in the nation to take military-style firearms off its streets, prior to the passage of the federal ban. See Ehrlich voted against sensible gun laws for Maryland.


Find out more about federal and state assault weapon bans.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tell Bob Ehrlich that you won't be fooled! Call Congressman Ehrlich at (202) 225-3061 and let him know you oppose his extreme record on guns.

This website was paid for by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence United with the Million Mom March and was not authorized by or coordinated with any Member of Congress, candidate or candidate's committee.

 

[nico]

you know what they say, if the brady bunch hates him that much he can't be a bad guy
here's my letter:

Governor Ehrlich,
As a gun owner and a lifelong Maryland citizen, I urge you to do everything you can to prevent the proposed "assault weapons" ban from becoming law. As I'm sure you know, this law would outlaw firearms based on purely cosmetic features. A long gun with a pistol grip, folding, or thumbhole stock is no more dangerous than that same gun with a traditional stock and it is ludicrous to ban a firearm based on such characteristics. I would also like to commend you for fighting for laws that punish criminals and not law abiding citizens like Project Exile.

Sincerely,
Nicholas Coronel
p.s. As a student at the University of Maryland, College Park, I support the actions you have had to take in fixing the budget problems that the previous governor left you with.

 

[chaim]

For those of you who say it looks like CA's ban, you are missing something important:

37. ___Springfield Armory BM-59, SAR-48, G3, SAR-3,
8 M-21 sniper rifle, M1A, excluding the M1 Garand;

Umm, can't our CA friends still get the M1A? That would make ours (if it passes) even worse than CA.


Oh, yes it looks like we can keep our guns we already own, if we register them by November. Hmm, how long will it take this to pass and get signed (if it passes and gets signed)? Then the regs and forms need to be written. If I recall, every other gun law that was passed when I was paying attention saw the state police wait until after the law was in effect before they bothered releasing the regs (lets see, built-in lock law, shell casing are two examples) causing there to be a short awkward time when it really wasn't clear what would and wouldn't be legal and effectively drying up the availability of new guns for a time. How much do you want to bet that the regs we need, let alone the forms, to register won't even be available by November? I think if passed, while there is a grandfather clause (if you register), it will turn into a defacto complete ban due to the inability of anyone to actually register their guns. What do you guys think, am I just being even more paranoid and cynical than is necessary?

 

[Norton]

If it comes down to this law passing....rather than register them I'm going to send them to Virginia where they can visit their cousins in the safe at the FILs......

 

[TheOtherOne]

If you bought your gun after 1998, it's already registered. If they want to confiscate them, all the police have to do is call up their database outlets (i.e. gun shops with 4473's) and request the information on those who have purchased the evil illegal guns. The databases have to comply.

 

[Norton]

Once again....here's the link to the bill:

http://mlis.state.md.us/2004rs/billfile/sb0288.htm

It has all of the bill's sponsors.....take a good look at where all of the sponsors are from. Of the 20 sponsors of this crap....all but three are from PG County, Montgomery County and Baltimore City. That means that three jurisdictions are railroading this through for the other 20 jurisdictions in the state.

 

[0007]

I guess I'll have to "borrow" back the FAL I gave my son-in-law and the AR I gave my daughter when they moved to MD. :banghead:

 

[Norton]

This was this morning's letter to all of the bill's sponsors......follow the links in the above post to get to all of their emails:

Senator Teitelbaum,

I am writing to you regarding Senate Bill 288, the Maryland Assault Weapons Ban of 2004.

This is a flawed piece of legislation that seeks to ban certain firearms based on purely cosmetic features. Features such as thumbhole stocks and pistol grips have nothing to do with a firearm's lethality or suitability for use by a criminal. This bill has nothing to do with reducing gun crime. Instead it is feel good legislation for those who have no first hand knowledge of firearms and only know that a gun "looks bad".

While crime in general is at far too high of a level in your jurisdiction, and indeed throughout the state, it is important for you and your colleagues to understand that the guns that are used in the commission of crimes are almost exclusively obtained through illegal means. In fact a near total ban on firearm ownership, legal or illegal, has done nothing to reduce gun crime in Baltimore City or Washington DC. Senate Bill 288 does nothing more to prevent this from happening. It will only serve to punish law abiding citizens who are already purchasing and using their firearms according to Maryland's extraordinarily restrictive gun laws.

Rather than pursuing this piece of misguided legislation, I strongly urge you to support Governor Ehrlich's initiative to enact Project Exile. This program has proven to be effective in lessening gun crime in Richmond where it was enacted with great support from responsible gun owners. Project Exile is appropriate in that it targets criminals rather than law abiding members of the Maryland citizenry.

Respectfully,

 

[Spot77]

...which of course does you no good should you need self defense weapons....

"Yes officer. No sir, I sold that AR-15 a few days after I bought it to a real nice feller out in Western Maryland. Don't recall his name though...."

 

[Norton]

Here is an email I received from Jim Purtilo.....for those of you who do not get the Tripwire newletter:



MDRKBA ALERT

We roll into February with MDRKBA's first alert of the year warning you that
a major gun control package - the one we all expected - is on the fast track
in Maryland's General Assembly, where the Senate is poised to advance a ban
on "assault weapons" very soon.

YOUR MISSION for the week of February 2: contact key Senators on the Judicial
Proceedings Committee and express your strongest opposition to *any* new gun
control under consideration. Details are below.

TO NON-MARYLANDERS, as always we say welcome, and hope what you learn here
will help you deal with anti-gunners where you live. Watch closely how the
left wing here seeks to affect presidential politics by slanting the terms
of debate towards ground of their own choosing. Maryland's battle over so-
called "assault weapons" may have national impact ... that's what they want!

Here's what you need to know! -- Jim

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. ABOUT THE BILL - A COMPREHENSIVE BAN ON MOST SEMI-AUTO FIREARMS

Senate Bill SB-288 proposes to BAN the possession of so-called "assault
weapons" in Maryland. What is an assault weapon? Proponents define this
by starting with ANY SEMI-AUTO FIREARM that takes a detachable magazine
and then checks if it has any cosmetic feature they don't like. Then it
bans "copycat guns" - anything that the state thinks resembles an assault
weapon. And it gets to decide what that is later! To top it off, the bill
mandates registration of any such firearms that area already in private
hands by a certain date. But because the state can retroactively ban any
gun it wants later, you might not have known to register your gun with
state police in time - That puts you in possession of instant contraband,
which will get you years in jail. See for yourself at
http://mlis.state.md.us/2004rs/billfile/sb0288.htm

2. HERE IS WHAT TO DO

a. During the week of 2 February, call each of these three key Senators
and tell them NO to the assault weapons ban:

Senator JOHN GIANETTI (410) 841-3141 -or- (301) 858-3141
[email protected]

Senator LEO GREEN (410) 841-3631 -or- (301) 858-3631
[email protected]

Senator JAMES BROCHIN (410) 841-3648 -or- (301) 858-3648
[email protected]

All calls are toll free. YES, send email too, but calls numbers are
what we need to run up now. Be polite, identify yourself and say you
want the Senator to strongly oppose SB 288 and ANY new gun control.
It is perfectly appropriate for you to call back a few days later to
give your message again; after all, you need to know the Senator has
received your input.

b. Call each of the rest of the Senators on the Judicial Proceedings
Committee with the same message. They are at:
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/05sen/html/com/05judp.html

c. Have everyone you know call too! Volume of calls COUNTS. Our goal
is to ensure that no office staff member can hang up the phone without
it immediately ringing with a call from another irate gun owner. This
is an all-hands operation and is not a drill. DO IT!

You are the first wave. Your calls this week are intended to condition the
battlefield before the major hearing on FEBRUARY 10th at 1PM in Annapolis.
So yes, there will be another wave of calls needed next week, but by then
our direct mail will have hit and your next calls will be multiplied by
those of gunowners who aren't connected to the Internet. The intent here
is to shape feedback so our constantly rising shout of opposition will rise
to a crescendo just before the bill is voted. ONLY YOU CAN MAKE THIS WORK!

Stay up to the minute by following us on the web at http://www.myguns.net

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
MDRKBA newsletter is an opt-in internet service of Tripwire newsletter. As
always, please email your request for subscriptions, unsubscriptions, change
address or other directly to mdrkba @ direct-action.org

 

[Norton]

My letter to the Capital in response to a letter published on Feb 1:

A writer of February 1, accuses previous letter writers of December 18 and 23 of selectively omitting portions of the second amendment in their support for the sunset of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban. This writer has in turn omitted what is the most important and oft quoted part of the amendment which concludes "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed". If the right as conveyed by the second amendment refers to the collective right of the state as opposed to that of the individual, then to whom do the rights outlined in the 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th amendments refer to?

The legislature is to be commended for their efforts to combat the level of crime in the state. However, capriciously banning selected firearms based on cosmetic features such as thumbhole stocks or pistol grips has nothing to do with crime prevention. It is feel good legislation that placates those who know nothing about firearms except that they "look evil".

The overwhelming majority of firearms used in the commission of crimes are already obtained illegally. They are not obtained through the legal channels that law abiding citizens follow. Making selected firearms "more illegal" will do nothing to stop this. Rather than focusing on misguided legislation which punishes responsible firearms owners already complying with some of the most stringent gun laws in the country, the state legislature should focus on measures which target criminals.

 

[Norton]

From Jim Purtilo, publisher of TripWire in response to my questions and comments regarding Project Exile in Maryland:

We can of course agree to disagree, but just so you know: I strongly oppose
the Exile legislation floating around Annapolis (there is a bill in for it
now) and track/report legislator support for it this year as an antigun act.

First, what is proposed here is not Exile as you might know it from Virginia.
(We can have a separate discussion about whether that worked -- it didn't --
but that is entirely irrelevent to Maryland debate since the two have nothing
in common except the name.) Read the bill here. It expands the circumstances
under which someone would become disabled for gun ownership, and we know the
practice of such laws is to fuel expansion of the Ceasefire program, which is
the administrative gun-grabbing unit. Gun crime tracked and prosecuted under
these laws is NOT violent crime, it is administrative: officers are diverted
from going after real bad guys in order to track whether or not someone who
was supposed to register a firearm failed to do so, so they could prosecute
them as such. Historically, Exile was a nice-sounding spin for NRA-supported
officials to say they were "for" so they could not sound like they were against
so much. That was in the Clinton administration. Now they have dropped Exile
like a hot potato and the only officials who want it are those who never got
the memo or connected the dots to what was going on. So you know, the federal
program under which the VA program is funded is, elsewhere in the US, tracked
and fought as a gun control program even by the NRA, e.g. the project Safe
Neighborhoods funding source is used in CA to run gun shops out of business.

From the time of the metro area sniper attacks to the present, Montgomery
county has run a task force to compare gun tips (who owns guns) against the
police databases in order to find people with technical disabilities they
can arrest. You know, heinous things like "hindering" and "tinkling" which
you may have read about in my newsletter. These people are genuinely disabled
from gun ownership (more is the pity) but may not even know it. They have no
connection with violent crime. Your support of the present Exile bill says
not only should public money be invested into hunting them down (as is the
case now) but they should be given 3 years mandatory for owning a gun. I
oppose that.

 

[Kharn]

Oh, I forgot to mention in my previous post, if this thing passes, I'm loading up and heading to Virginia immediately. Sorry guys, but I wont register my guns and I'm growing tired of all the antigun bull**** in this state (having a number of grey hairs at 22 isnt a good sign).

Kharn

 

[Norton]

Kharn,

I hear you brother.....but let's not forget that this thing has not passed yet. If we ALL continue with our letter writing and make the phone calls this week, we might be able to turn the tide on this thing.

 

[bbrins]

I plan on fighting this as much as possible, but I wonder if it would be legal for me to take my guns out of state to stay with relatives for a few years if this passes. I plan on sticking around for at least a few more years anyway. Would I have to go through an FFL?

 

[Kharn]

Bbrins:
If you're the only one with access to them (locked in a safe only you know the combo to, etc), you can leave'em there without getting an FFL involved. You could either drive the weapons there yourself or ship them to the storage location, addressed to yourself, care-of the local person (who must never open the box, only you can open the box legally).

Kharn