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from the various "Gazette" papers in MD
http://www.gazette.net/200309/montgomerycty/state/145596-1.html
http://www.gazette.net/200309/montgomerycty/state/145596-1.html
Showdown possible on gun control bills
by Steven T. Dennis
Staff Writer
Feb. 26, 2003
ANNAPOLIS -- Advocates for three new gun control measures are confident that they are close to having the votes to pass them, potentially setting up a major showdown between the legislature and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
Gun control advocates, including Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose and Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse, are pushing a ban on assault weapons, a requirement for ballistic fingerprinting for long guns and a requirement that people who lose guns tell the police promptly or face jail time.
The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee will hear testimony on the gun bills Thursday.
Eric Gally, a lobbyist for Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse, said he is unsure whether there are the 32 votes in the Senate necessary to end an expected filibuster.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach, asked if there was a chance to end a filibuster on gun control legislation, said "no" and cackled.
Judicial Proceedings Chairman Brian E. Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Chevy Chase said prospects for the bills appear favorable in his committee.
In the House, the question could come down to whether Judiciary Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Dist. 27A) of Upper Marlboro will allow a vote, Gally said. Vallario said he will wait for hearings to make up his mind.
If the bills get through the assembly, the Democrats could put pressure on one of Ehrlich's soft spots -- his long support of gun rights and his opposition to most gun control measures, issues Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D) used relentlessly in her gubernatorial campaign.
Ehrlich (R) voted against gun bans when he was in the legislature and in Congress, and he publicly questioned the state's ballistic fingerprinting program for handguns on the campaign trail, noting that it has not proven successful in catching criminals.
"It would be a 180-degree change for him to support" the assault weapons ban, said Ehrlich spokesman Paul E. Schurick.
Schurick said that absent any evidence that ballistic fingerprinting catches criminals, it would be foolish to expand it.
"Why expand a program that doesn't work?" he asked.
If the bills pass, Ehrlich would be faced with an unappealing choice. He could sign the measures into law and risk alienating a core constituency, or he could veto them and provide an issue with which the Democratic gubernatorial nominee could hammer him in 2006. He also could allow the bills to become law without his signature, and try to duck the issue.
There is a fourth possibility, however. Ehrlich has made passing Project Exile, a program intended to get tough on gun criminals with mandatory penalties, one of his top priorities this session. Legislative leaders could try to cut a deal with Ehrlich to pass his Exile legislation contingent on the governor allowing the other gun measures to become law.
But Joseph M. Getty, the governor's legislative policy director, said Ehrlich does not want to get into horsetrading.
"If you start horsetrading, that's when you start passing bad laws," Getty said.
National Rifle Association lobbyist Greg Costa would not speculate on the odds that the bills will pass, adding that he does not know what the governor will do.
"Everything I think is up in the air," he said. "We're fighting all of these bills as though our last line of defense is in the legislature."
Copyright © 2003 The Gazette
