STATE POLICE OVERREACH IN GUN SAFETY LAW ENFORCEMENT
CHALLENGED IN CIRCUIT COURT
On Tuesday of this week Jim Purtilo, political commentator and firearm
issue activist, filed suit in Montgomery County asking the Circuit Court
to enjoin Maryland State Police from enforcing handgun sale restrictions
that go far beyond the agency's statutory authority.
Present state law bans sale of new handguns lacking 'integrated mechanical
safety devices' - a term coined for the first time by gun control proponents
in 2000 when Parris Glendening's "smartgun" proposal was panned in the General
Assembly. The legislature stopped his mandate for high-tech (and undeveloped)
electronic locks in favor of a simple mandate that each gun have either a lock
or a disabling safety.
At issue today is the scope of this mandate for mechanical safety devices.
Though the law clearly defines two ways for a product to meet the requirement,
Maryland State Police now approve only handguns having an integrated lock, not
ones having a disabling safety. As a result, the vast majority of new handguns
on the market are unlawful for Maryland sale.
It is exactly this crisis of product availability which prompted Senate
President Mike Miller - champion of Glendening's 2000 law and the man who
brokered the compromise language on safeties in order to pass a bill - to
recently introduce legislation intended to adjust the lock definition so
handguns could be sold. His 'Beretta bill' - so-called because guns made
by Beretta in his home district cannot be sold in-state - languished with
all other gun bills.
MSP's enforcement of the lock mandate is based on regulations written and
adopted by the Ehrlich administration last summer. Purtilo's complaint states
these regulations are illegally restrictive and seeks a declaratory judgement
to limit MSP enforcement to only what the law says. He filed suit only after
his efforts to work with the administration in the last year were rebuffed,
with no other efforts towards relief in sight.
CHALLENGED IN CIRCUIT COURT
On Tuesday of this week Jim Purtilo, political commentator and firearm
issue activist, filed suit in Montgomery County asking the Circuit Court
to enjoin Maryland State Police from enforcing handgun sale restrictions
that go far beyond the agency's statutory authority.
Present state law bans sale of new handguns lacking 'integrated mechanical
safety devices' - a term coined for the first time by gun control proponents
in 2000 when Parris Glendening's "smartgun" proposal was panned in the General
Assembly. The legislature stopped his mandate for high-tech (and undeveloped)
electronic locks in favor of a simple mandate that each gun have either a lock
or a disabling safety.
At issue today is the scope of this mandate for mechanical safety devices.
Though the law clearly defines two ways for a product to meet the requirement,
Maryland State Police now approve only handguns having an integrated lock, not
ones having a disabling safety. As a result, the vast majority of new handguns
on the market are unlawful for Maryland sale.
It is exactly this crisis of product availability which prompted Senate
President Mike Miller - champion of Glendening's 2000 law and the man who
brokered the compromise language on safeties in order to pass a bill - to
recently introduce legislation intended to adjust the lock definition so
handguns could be sold. His 'Beretta bill' - so-called because guns made
by Beretta in his home district cannot be sold in-state - languished with
all other gun bills.
MSP's enforcement of the lock mandate is based on regulations written and
adopted by the Ehrlich administration last summer. Purtilo's complaint states
these regulations are illegally restrictive and seeks a declaratory judgement
to limit MSP enforcement to only what the law says. He filed suit only after
his efforts to work with the administration in the last year were rebuffed,
with no other efforts towards relief in sight.