Fortunately Maryland has preemption. More wasted tax dollars!
http://www.gazette.net/stories/012407/montcou221111_31999.shtml
County delegates mull gun control law
Bill would give council the right to make its own rules
Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007
by Sean R. Sedam
Staff Writer
ANNAPOLIS — Del. Roger P. Manno is pushing a bill that would allow the
Montgomery County Council to enact gun laws that are stricter than the state’s.
The freshman delegate from Silver Spring hopes to gain support from the county’s
delegation.
‘‘[The county] should be able to address specific gun violence challenges that exist in
Montgomery County,” Manno (D-Dist. 19) said, citing a Dec. 14 incident where an
armored truck guard was wounded in a shootout in front of a bank on Bel Pre Road in
Aspen Hill, which is in Manno’s district.
The bill would not enact any particular gun measure and would apply only to
Montgomery County. Any action, Manno said, would be left up to the County
Council.
The county’s House delegation is expected to vote on the bill on Friday, which would
put it in line for a hearing with the delegation on Feb. 2, said delegation Chairman
Charles E. Barkley (D-Dist. 39) of Germantown.
Barkley said he expects the bill to receive support from the two-thirds of delegates
needed to submit it as a late filing. ‘‘As far as support for passage, I don’t know,”
Barkley said. ‘‘It’s a new concept. I don’t know if anyone on the County Council
that’s asked for it.”
There is interest on the County Council.
‘‘I would support that,” said Councilman Philip M. Andrews, chairman of the
council’s Public Safety Committee, adding that gun control is not an issue that has
come before the council often.
‘‘I think there aren’t too many areas where having enabling authority is a problem,”
said Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg.
‘‘It’s not descriptive, it’s enabling,” agreed Councilman Marc Elrich (D-At large) of
Takoma Park, lead member for juvenile issues on the council’s Public Safety
Committee. ‘‘So it doesn’t require the county to do anything. If the county wants to do
something, this is the way. I’m interested in that very much.”
Elrich added that he has not set his sights on any particular legislation, saying that the
council would have to discuss it.
Gun violence is not unique to Montgomery County, but ‘‘it’s real,” Elrich said, citing
an incident in Burtonsville on Friday in which a 16-year-old boy shot and wounded an
undercover county police officer before another officer shot and killed the boy.
‘‘It’s an issue — too many kids with guns, that’s true,” he said. ‘‘... Given how little
the state’s done, we’ve got a better shot of doing something at the county level. You
can’t do any less than the state has under this law.”
Last week, Sen. Mike G. Lenett (D-Dist. 19) of Silver Spring introduced a bill to ban
military-style assault weapons. His bill uses the same definition of assault weapon as
the 1994 federal ban that he said he helped to draft when he served as counsel to the
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
After 2004 expiration of the ban, Sen. Robert J. Garagiola (D-Dist. 15) of
Germantown tried unsuccessfully to impose a state ban.
James M. Purtilo, publisher of the gun rights publication Tripwire, said he expects
Manno’s bill to fail. ‘‘I would guess that it would not be very successful in
Annapolis,” he said. ‘‘There are legislators who recognize that there are some issues
too hot for counties to handle.”
Page 1 of 2 County delegates mull gun control law
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Lawmakers should be cautioned not to create a ‘‘patchwork quilt” of gun laws across
the state ‘‘to snag the unwary,” Purtilo said. A gun owner traveling across the state,
‘‘depending on what route he takes, he’s either a felon or a free man,” he said.
The Takoma Park City Council tried to put a ban on hand guns within the city limits
on the ballot in 1999, an effort that was blocked by a judge. Elrich served on that
council.
Purtilo’s group, Marylanders for the Protection of Firearms Ownership, supported
three Takoma Park residents in opposing the push for a ballot measure as
unconstitutional.
‘‘We know there’s a track record of agitators, in Montgomery County chiefly, that
work against [the state law pre-empting counties from passing gun legislation],”
Purtilo said.
Other county efforts to block gun sales have been more successful. In 2001, the
County Council passed a law that prohibited county money from going to
organizations that allowed the display or sale of guns. Th law effectively ended guns
shows at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg.
Manno said that the 120,000 people he represents in District 19, which encompasses
parts of northern Silver Spring, Wheaton, unincorporated Rockville, Aspen Hill and
Leisure World, ‘‘are more progressive than any other county” and ‘‘support more
aggressive efforts to cut down on challenges we face with gun violence.”
‘‘I’m not an anti-gun nut,” Manno said. ‘‘I support the constitutional Second
Amendment rights. ... I do think there are commonsense measures that could be
introduced to cut down on problems, instances of violence that exist [due to] illegal
gun use.”
http://www.gazette.net/stories/012407/montcou221111_31999.shtml
County delegates mull gun control law
Bill would give council the right to make its own rules
Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007
by Sean R. Sedam
Staff Writer
ANNAPOLIS — Del. Roger P. Manno is pushing a bill that would allow the
Montgomery County Council to enact gun laws that are stricter than the state’s.
The freshman delegate from Silver Spring hopes to gain support from the county’s
delegation.
‘‘[The county] should be able to address specific gun violence challenges that exist in
Montgomery County,” Manno (D-Dist. 19) said, citing a Dec. 14 incident where an
armored truck guard was wounded in a shootout in front of a bank on Bel Pre Road in
Aspen Hill, which is in Manno’s district.
The bill would not enact any particular gun measure and would apply only to
Montgomery County. Any action, Manno said, would be left up to the County
Council.
The county’s House delegation is expected to vote on the bill on Friday, which would
put it in line for a hearing with the delegation on Feb. 2, said delegation Chairman
Charles E. Barkley (D-Dist. 39) of Germantown.
Barkley said he expects the bill to receive support from the two-thirds of delegates
needed to submit it as a late filing. ‘‘As far as support for passage, I don’t know,”
Barkley said. ‘‘It’s a new concept. I don’t know if anyone on the County Council
that’s asked for it.”
There is interest on the County Council.
‘‘I would support that,” said Councilman Philip M. Andrews, chairman of the
council’s Public Safety Committee, adding that gun control is not an issue that has
come before the council often.
‘‘I think there aren’t too many areas where having enabling authority is a problem,”
said Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg.
‘‘It’s not descriptive, it’s enabling,” agreed Councilman Marc Elrich (D-At large) of
Takoma Park, lead member for juvenile issues on the council’s Public Safety
Committee. ‘‘So it doesn’t require the county to do anything. If the county wants to do
something, this is the way. I’m interested in that very much.”
Elrich added that he has not set his sights on any particular legislation, saying that the
council would have to discuss it.
Gun violence is not unique to Montgomery County, but ‘‘it’s real,” Elrich said, citing
an incident in Burtonsville on Friday in which a 16-year-old boy shot and wounded an
undercover county police officer before another officer shot and killed the boy.
‘‘It’s an issue — too many kids with guns, that’s true,” he said. ‘‘... Given how little
the state’s done, we’ve got a better shot of doing something at the county level. You
can’t do any less than the state has under this law.”
Last week, Sen. Mike G. Lenett (D-Dist. 19) of Silver Spring introduced a bill to ban
military-style assault weapons. His bill uses the same definition of assault weapon as
the 1994 federal ban that he said he helped to draft when he served as counsel to the
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
After 2004 expiration of the ban, Sen. Robert J. Garagiola (D-Dist. 15) of
Germantown tried unsuccessfully to impose a state ban.
James M. Purtilo, publisher of the gun rights publication Tripwire, said he expects
Manno’s bill to fail. ‘‘I would guess that it would not be very successful in
Annapolis,” he said. ‘‘There are legislators who recognize that there are some issues
too hot for counties to handle.”
Page 1 of 2 County delegates mull gun control law
1/24/2007 http://www.gazette.net/stories/012407/montcou221111_31999.shtml
Copyright © 2006 The Gazette - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Privacy Statement
Lawmakers should be cautioned not to create a ‘‘patchwork quilt” of gun laws across
the state ‘‘to snag the unwary,” Purtilo said. A gun owner traveling across the state,
‘‘depending on what route he takes, he’s either a felon or a free man,” he said.
The Takoma Park City Council tried to put a ban on hand guns within the city limits
on the ballot in 1999, an effort that was blocked by a judge. Elrich served on that
council.
Purtilo’s group, Marylanders for the Protection of Firearms Ownership, supported
three Takoma Park residents in opposing the push for a ballot measure as
unconstitutional.
‘‘We know there’s a track record of agitators, in Montgomery County chiefly, that
work against [the state law pre-empting counties from passing gun legislation],”
Purtilo said.
Other county efforts to block gun sales have been more successful. In 2001, the
County Council passed a law that prohibited county money from going to
organizations that allowed the display or sale of guns. Th law effectively ended guns
shows at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg.
Manno said that the 120,000 people he represents in District 19, which encompasses
parts of northern Silver Spring, Wheaton, unincorporated Rockville, Aspen Hill and
Leisure World, ‘‘are more progressive than any other county” and ‘‘support more
aggressive efforts to cut down on challenges we face with gun violence.”
‘‘I’m not an anti-gun nut,” Manno said. ‘‘I support the constitutional Second
Amendment rights. ... I do think there are commonsense measures that could be
introduced to cut down on problems, instances of violence that exist [due to] illegal
gun use.”
