Maryland rant -- jump in, the water's boiling

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DirtyBrad

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Hey,

I live in Maryland. One of my best friends just moved to VA and has been waving his soon-to-be CCW in my face and laughing. I've been kicking around the idea of a non-resident Virginia CCW for a while, and I obviously have to get one now.

I was looking at the requirements yesterday and it seems pretty automatic. I'll need to take a course, but even the NRA Basic Pistol qualifies. The rest is just paperwork and a hundred bucks (fees, you know).

It barely does me any good, though. I could move, but my job will be in Maryland for the forseeable future, so that hardly does me any good. Moving to VA would effectively mean I could CCW on the weekends.

A VA permit is pretty automatic and good in more than 20 states. According to packing.org, Maryland honors literally no one else's permit. To get a permit here (which you won't), you have to have multiple documented cases of threats on your life or actual attacks. i've heard of no regular person getting one.

I've written my reps on every gun vote there's been. Most have written back. I follow the progress on Marylandshallissue.org and packing.org. And there has been literally none since March. Plus, I'm told that the latest bill has zero chance of going anywhere.

What can I do? I hate the laws here. There is zero training required to purchase a gun here. The "safety" video we have to watch might be more bizarre and otherworldy if it was created by Matt Groening, but I doubt it. Sarbanes and Mikulski both voted against s397. How could anyone vote against that? My pistol had to be "approved" by the state and had to include a fired shell casing. Fortunately the one I wanted fit both of these criteria, but what about the next one I want to buy? What if it doesn't have a shell casing? Am I out of luck? Has one single crime been solved by this database?

I'm frustrated and jealous when I read about CCW shall-issue sweeping the nation in the last fifteen years or whatever. I burn green inside when people post pictures of their CCW rigs.

What more can I do?
 
I don't want to break the law and I don't want to move. I want to do more to change the laws/minds here now.
 
Take your elected government creatures and throw them into the harbor?
 
A VA permit is pretty automatic and good in more than 20 states.
Click to expand...
No it's not. The resident permit is good in 18, the non-resident in 14. You should look at the Florida permit (26 states for a similar cost, training is the same as VA).
 
Well we're pretty much in the off-season still for the legaslative session so that's why MSI hasn't been very active lately. I'd expect that to change quickly once the session starts. If you're interested the AA county section of MSI has been trying to get some friendly shoots/get togethers the first Wednesday of every month. The next one is this Wednesday the 3rd at the 12th Precinct Pistol and Archery Club. Here's directions and info to that.

What: Bullseye Conventional Pistol shooting league
Where: 12th Precinct Pistol and Archery Club in Harwood, MD
When: Wednesday August 3rd at 5:30pm and/or at 7:00 pm.
Cost: First timers are free! After that it is $3 for the first
competiton and $5 for both- a great deal!
What to bring: .22 pistols are recommended because it really gives you
a chance to work on trigger control while not having to deal with recoil.
Also, please bring your own ammo.
RSVP: Garrison Johns (443) 994-2102 [email protected]

Directions: Take Rt 2 South from the Annapolis area to Harwood, Md.
Turn right on Harwood Road and go 1.1 miles.
Turn right into the club, go through the gate and follow the road back
to the club house and range. Most shooters park on the right side of the
building.
 
CCW in Maryland is a Misdemeanor not a felony. I think maximum penalty for first time offense is 30 days inprisonment.

Hey on the bright side (actually quite dim), if it wasn't for Maryland and other idiotic states the rest of the US wouldn't know how not to do things. Idiots never learn from their own mistakes, but some people learn from the mistakes of others.

Other than that Maryland is great, out of control housing market, crime, high taxes, traffic, high living cost, despotic city counsels.
 
Hi Brad,

You're on the right track. The problem however, is that our group mentality here in Maryland has always been one defensive in nature. With an anti-gun majority in the state senate and house, we've been fortunate enough to avoid any really harsh gun restrictions since about 2000.

The defensive attitude has to change. We need to be on the legislative offensive.

There was progress made on the ccw front this year. Many Democrats with a solid anti-gun history pledged support for it. However,t he naysayers, the old shoolers, and those with other priorities actually worked against advancing ccw this year. Amazing, huh? There's a whole new breed of gun rights activists making a lot of noise in Maryland, and certain elements of the old guard feel threatened by somebody else working the reigns of the gun rights cause. We are frequently dismissed as cavalier, inexperienced, naive, and once we were even accused of working, "side by side with the Brady Campaign to pass a state assault weapons ban" Again, amazing, huh? Especially since ALL of us testified in Annapolis against the awb, and for the Ballistic Fingerprint Repeal as well as ccw.

Perhaps you can join us in Annapolis this year during the legislative session to register your official protest against bad gun bills and voice your support for the good ones. The days are long, and there's a lot of boredom but I've rarely felt such a feeling of accomplishment as I have after spending 10 hours in the Senate office building.

Personal visits to your reps is also very powerful. Anybody can fire off an email, fax or snail mail, but it takes time, effort and passion to take a day off of work, fight Annapolis traffic and parking, and visit legislators in person.

But my key piece of advice right now is DON'T be discouraged by people who say ccw can't be done in Maryland. It CAN be done if we keep the pressure on elected offiicals and continue to educate the non-gun owning public about the advantages of ccw. Remember, people who don't own guns don't care about guns enough to research the lies taht the biased media constantly feeds them.
 
Delegate Quinter is the problem. He single-handedly destroyed any chance of us getting CCW this year by threatening to attach his AWB as an amendment to any bill that made it through. As long as he continues to tread over our right to defend ourselves, there will be no progress.
 
Thanks for your replies everyone, especially Spot77.

I'll show up next term in Annapolis, not just write my reps. Anyone know when the next legislative session begins?

I'll keep a positive attitude and keep taking new folks shooting. Hope to see you guys out there.
 
another MD'er here

and I moved to MD from VA :what: That's what getting married will do to you. ;)

Anyway, I found the MD firearms community to me MUCH larger and MORE DIVERSE than the WashPost and BalSun would have you believe. Glad to see you here.

The MD legislature is "in business" from January to April-ish each year. However, it seems the legislators still take phone calls and mail year round.

My Dist 14 legislators (northeastern Montgomery County) are about worthless when it comes to firearms issues, and the Delegates are even anti-hunting, despite representing a somewhat rural area.

I read somewhere that Quinter was quitting his office to try to run for state senate or the US House. We can only hope . . .

FYI: The handgun laws in MD have penalties labeled as "misdemeanors," but are considered FELONIES under the Fed 922 law because a first offense of being caught with a handgun in public is punishable by up to 3 yrs in jail. Not to mention also probably denying you any MD firearms ownership rights . . .

§ 4-203. Wearing, carrying, or transporting handgun.

(a) Prohibited.-

(1) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a person may not:

(i) wear, carry, or transport a handgun, whether concealed or open, on or about the person; or

(ii) wear, carry, or knowingly transport a handgun, whether concealed or open, in a vehicle traveling on a road or parking lot generally used by the public, highway, waterway, or airway of the State.

(2) There is a rebuttable presumption that a person who transports a handgun under paragraph (1)(ii) of this subsection transports the handgun knowingly.

b) (I have skipped the narrow exceptions to the above) :banghead:

c) Penalty.-

(1) A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to the penalties provided in this subsection.

(2) If the person has not previously been convicted under this section, § 4-204 of this subtitle, or § 4-101 or § 4-102 of this title:

(i) except as provided in item (ii) of this paragraph, the person is subject to imprisonment for not less than 30 days and not exceeding 3 years or a fine of not less than $250 and not exceeding $2,500 or both; but

(ii) if it appears from the evidence that the handgun was worn, carried, or transported on public school property in the State, the person shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than 90 days.

(3) (i) If the person has previously been convicted once under this section, § 4-204 of this subtitle, or § 4-101 or § 4-102 of this title, the person shall be sentenced:

1. to imprisonment for not less than 1 year and not exceeding 10 years; but

2. if it appears from the evidence that the handgun was worn, carried, or transported on public school property in the State, to imprisonment for not less than 3 years and not exceeding 10 years.

(ii) The court may not impose less than the applicable minimum sentence provided under subparagraph (i) of this paragraph.

(4) (i) If the person has previously been convicted more than once under this section, § 4-204 of this subtitle, or § 4-101 or § 4-102 of this title, or of any combination of these crimes, the person shall be sentenced:

1. to imprisonment for not less than 3 years and not exceeding 10 years; but

2. A. if it appears from the evidence that the handgun was worn, carried, or transported on public school property in the State, to imprisonment for not less than 5 years and not exceeding 10 years; or

B. if it appears from the evidence that the handgun was worn, carried, or transported with the deliberate purpose of injuring or killing another person, to imprisonment for not less than 5 years and not exceeding 10 years.

(ii) The court may not impose less than the applicable minimum sentence provided under subparagraph (i) of this paragraph.
 
I would move Their is little or no hope in your life time of beating the Democratic machines Not only your state but NJ IL and the others. You have Free America then you have the other. Move to a Free America.Let them have their high taxes, crime ,and other troubles. Life to short to live in a opressed state. :)
 
Get use to the idea of not having a gun. Maryland = cowpie
Do you want to eat a cowpie? I think not. Otherwise you can have your friend whip you once a week for the next two months. File police reports to the effect of the unknown attacker strikes again. Three times in two months and you should be good to go. Then throw money at the state and get you CCW permit.

THR You' ve got problems, I got solutions
Im just kidding eat the cowpie and save your money.
 
Get use to the idea of not having a gun. Maryland = cowpie
Do you want to eat a cowpie? I think not. Otherwise you can have your friend whip you once a week for the next two months. File police reports to the effect of the unknown attacker strikes again. Three times in two months and you should be good to go. Then throw money at the state and get you CCW permit.

THR You' ve got problems, I got solutions
Im just kidding eat the cowpie and save your money.

Or you can carry around an 29'' sword like the Aikibiker and make yourself seem unstable
 
Delayed, Unless Maryland is different than the rest of the Union, a majority of the legislature critters must vote for the AWB amendment to be added to the CCW bill. So, you really have a bigger problem than you think.
If you had enough to say No when asked to add the AWB the issue is dead and you can move on.
 
Well, I was told that it was Quinter's actions that prevented anything from getting out of committee, but I could easily be wrong.

It was funny. I hadn't been a gun owner for more than two months, and I was already speaking in front of my representatives and writing letters demanding change. This year I plan on doing more, and intend to visit my representatives and make sure they understand exactly why I need their support.

Maryland has one of the highest crime rates in the nation. In 2000 we had the highest armed robbery rate and the 3rd highest murder rate. Despite having some of the most stringent gun control laws in the country, our state is horrible for crime.

It's time for a change.
 
I don't want to break the law and I don't want to move.
Click to expand...

I don't want to be a mediocre shot, but I don't want to practice. I don't want to be poor, but I don't want to work. I don't want to wake up hung-over, but I don't want to moderate my drinking. I don't want to miss out on my civil rights, but I don't want to take any action.

Like a number of other states, Maryland is too far left of center to be susceptible to American political processes. It's more closely aligned with France and the U.K. than the United States.
 
Delayed, don't get me wrong, what I'm saying is that the politicians are using this looney's action as a fig leaf. I don't want to do anything because he might for me to take a position on something I really wish would go away :neener:
 
Try going to night school post academy, become a reserve police officer- take you about a year. You will get your CCW. It is about the only way to get one in SF.
 
Hmmm...not sure how this thread escaped me for almost a month.....

DirtyBrad,

I don't have much to add to what has already been stated since Spot77, anapex and I come from the same shared experiences with going to Annapolis for the last couple of years.

I think we give Quinter a little too much credit, though he is definitely one of the biggest threats to us, along with Rob (Why don't you gun owners trust me?) Garagiola. Vallerio basically dope-slapped Quinter in fron of the entire proceedings last year because of his whining.

If anyone has any doubts about how MD is ground zero for the anti-gun movement in the entire US, check out my sig line for starters. Our gun grabbers are a who's who of the Brady Bunch, VPC.

Hopefully Harry Tuttle will spot this thread and be able to outline the connections between Quinter, Brady Campaign, Ceasefire, Johns Hopkins, etc, etc, etc......
 
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