Harry Tuttle
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Tactical differences split gun advocates
http://www.gazette.net/200510/weekend/a_section/264656-1.html
by Steven T. Dennis
Staff Writer
Mar. 11, 2005
ANNAPOLIS -- A split over lobbying tactics is roiling the gun rights community, with activist Jim Purtilo fearing that efforts by rivals to push hard for a politically explosive and doomed right-to-carry bill will backfire on plans to repeal the state's ballistic fingerprinting law.
Purtilo, publisher of the newsletter Tripwire, has set up a Web site, www.squirreltalk.net, mocking gun advocates who are pushing this year's right-to-carry legislation as politically naive.
"The only reason to advance this again is political grandstanding and big egos, and we'd rather measure our successes by real gains won, not by how many battles we gloriously lose for the right reason," Purtilo said.
But Donald Hoffman of Maryland Shall Issue, a Libertytown group backing the right-to-carry bill, blasts Purtilo, saying that they need to keep the pressure on if they are ever going to pass it.
"No war has ever been won fighting a defensive action," Hoffman said, holding a copy of John R. Lott Jr.'s "More Guns, Less Crime" outside the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. "We need to let the anti-gun people know we're here and we're kicking butt."
Hoffman and a group of pro-gun folks sported stickers saying, "Maryland Gun Owners Vote" with "Remember Cas Taylor" in fine print. Gun advocates played a major role in defeating the former House speaker in 2002 after he ushered through ballistic fingerprinting and the trigger lock law.
Hoffman said Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) would prefer to deal with issues such as right-to-carry after the 2006 election, but gun owners do not know if he will be re-elected.
"He's afraid of any gun bill reaching his desk because he's afraid of pissing anybody off," Hoffman said, but "he needs us to be out there working for him."
Although they like Ehrlich, Hoffman said, his group would like to see more tangible pro-gun legislation.
"We don't want to cause him any pain, but we have to do what we have to do," he said. "We need to let them know that we're alive and kicking."
But Purtilo said the gun community needs to "show some political maturity" and not whack lawmakers on a bill that has no hope of passing this year if they want to win on the ballistic fingerprinting bill.
Purtilo points to Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr.'s aborted attempt to petition the gay marriage ban to the House floor, which prompted House Speaker Michael E. Busch's subsequent threat to nuke all Republican legislation.
Dwyer (R-Dist. 31) of Glen Burnie also is the sponsor of the right-to-carry bill, which would make it easier for Marylanders to get permits to carry handguns because they no longer would have to prove to the State Police that they have "a good and substantial reason" to do so.
Purtilo said that expending energy on a fruitless battle over the right-to-carry legislation could harm the pro-gun advocates in the long term.
"Our people, once they realize their time has been wasted on something useless, they tend to go away and not come back," he said. "There is nothing that would be better for promoting the right to carry next year than to repeal [fingerprinting] this year."
Putting in right-to-carry bills year after year also trains the legislature to defeat them year after year, which is counterproductive, Purtilo said.
The gun community already won a victory because Ehrlich has eliminated funding for the ballistic fingerprinting program, which has not successfully caught any criminals, but gun manufacturers must still provide test shell casings to the state. As a result, many guns are not available in Maryland, limiting the choices for gun buyers, Purtilo said.
The success of the repeal would have a national impact, he said, given Maryland's status as the first state to institute the program.
"Other states that have been looking at this are watching Maryland. Either this form of gun control gets legs and goes nationally, or it gets put to rest," Purtilo said.
But Hoffman said he is not putting his energy into the repeal.
"It's dead," he said. "The governor's already defunded it."
http://www.gazette.net/200510/weekend/a_section/264656-1.html
by Steven T. Dennis
Staff Writer
Mar. 11, 2005
ANNAPOLIS -- A split over lobbying tactics is roiling the gun rights community, with activist Jim Purtilo fearing that efforts by rivals to push hard for a politically explosive and doomed right-to-carry bill will backfire on plans to repeal the state's ballistic fingerprinting law.
Purtilo, publisher of the newsletter Tripwire, has set up a Web site, www.squirreltalk.net, mocking gun advocates who are pushing this year's right-to-carry legislation as politically naive.
"The only reason to advance this again is political grandstanding and big egos, and we'd rather measure our successes by real gains won, not by how many battles we gloriously lose for the right reason," Purtilo said.
But Donald Hoffman of Maryland Shall Issue, a Libertytown group backing the right-to-carry bill, blasts Purtilo, saying that they need to keep the pressure on if they are ever going to pass it.
"No war has ever been won fighting a defensive action," Hoffman said, holding a copy of John R. Lott Jr.'s "More Guns, Less Crime" outside the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. "We need to let the anti-gun people know we're here and we're kicking butt."
Hoffman and a group of pro-gun folks sported stickers saying, "Maryland Gun Owners Vote" with "Remember Cas Taylor" in fine print. Gun advocates played a major role in defeating the former House speaker in 2002 after he ushered through ballistic fingerprinting and the trigger lock law.
Hoffman said Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) would prefer to deal with issues such as right-to-carry after the 2006 election, but gun owners do not know if he will be re-elected.
"He's afraid of any gun bill reaching his desk because he's afraid of pissing anybody off," Hoffman said, but "he needs us to be out there working for him."
Although they like Ehrlich, Hoffman said, his group would like to see more tangible pro-gun legislation.
"We don't want to cause him any pain, but we have to do what we have to do," he said. "We need to let them know that we're alive and kicking."
But Purtilo said the gun community needs to "show some political maturity" and not whack lawmakers on a bill that has no hope of passing this year if they want to win on the ballistic fingerprinting bill.
Purtilo points to Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr.'s aborted attempt to petition the gay marriage ban to the House floor, which prompted House Speaker Michael E. Busch's subsequent threat to nuke all Republican legislation.
Dwyer (R-Dist. 31) of Glen Burnie also is the sponsor of the right-to-carry bill, which would make it easier for Marylanders to get permits to carry handguns because they no longer would have to prove to the State Police that they have "a good and substantial reason" to do so.
Purtilo said that expending energy on a fruitless battle over the right-to-carry legislation could harm the pro-gun advocates in the long term.
"Our people, once they realize their time has been wasted on something useless, they tend to go away and not come back," he said. "There is nothing that would be better for promoting the right to carry next year than to repeal [fingerprinting] this year."
Putting in right-to-carry bills year after year also trains the legislature to defeat them year after year, which is counterproductive, Purtilo said.
The gun community already won a victory because Ehrlich has eliminated funding for the ballistic fingerprinting program, which has not successfully caught any criminals, but gun manufacturers must still provide test shell casings to the state. As a result, many guns are not available in Maryland, limiting the choices for gun buyers, Purtilo said.
The success of the repeal would have a national impact, he said, given Maryland's status as the first state to institute the program.
"Other states that have been looking at this are watching Maryland. Either this form of gun control gets legs and goes nationally, or it gets put to rest," Purtilo said.
But Hoffman said he is not putting his energy into the repeal.
"It's dead," he said. "The governor's already defunded it."
