cuchulainn
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from the Hagarstown Herald-Mail
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=49116&format=html
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=49116&format=html
Sunday February 2, 2003
Md. lawmakers propose gun bills
by The Associated Press
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) - Maryland lawmakers are proposing a package of gun control laws, including one to expand ballistics fingerprinting to all firearms, and will draw on the celebrity of Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose to underscore their point.
Gun control advocates plan to hold a rally Thursday in Annapolis featuring Moose as a speaker, the police chief who gained fame as head of the Washington-area sniper investigation.
The proposals include a bill requiring gun owners to promptly report the theft of their weapons and another that would place strict limits on assault weapons. The ballistics bill would expand the state's current database of handguns to include all guns.
Gov. Robert Ehrlich hasn't taken a stand on specific gun bills, but he said repeatedly during the campaign he thinks Maryland has enough laws restricting gun owners and should concentrate on use of guns by criminals.
He said he would review the state's ban on cheaply made handguns and its ballistic fingerprinting to see if they are effective in reducing crime. One of his top legislative programs this year is a program to prosecute criminals under federal gun laws, similar to Virginia's "Project Exile" plan.
Ehrlich spokesman Henry Fawell said the governor had not yet seen the proposed bills. Only the ballistics bill had been submitted as of Friday.
"He will have to be confident that any legislation meets its intent to reduce gun violence. It if does, he will support it," Fawell said.
The ballistics law would require every firearm sold in Maryland to come with a pre-fired shell casing. The casing, which would carry marks unique to the gun, would then be added to a state police database.
Police could in theory use that database to compare shell casings found at crime scenes to trace a shooting to a particular gun. The system already exists for handguns.
Sen. Jennie Forehand, D-Montgomery, the bill's lead sponsor, said the legislation was motivated in part by the sniper shootings. In that case, police used ballistics evidence to tie the shootings to one gun.
But gun advocates claim the ballistics database doesn't work, pointing to a recent California Department of Justice study that found the markings left by a gun change as the weapons is used. Linking a gun to a crime also wouldn't peg it to a particular person, the report found, because guns are often stolen or shared.
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