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ANNUAL REPORT CARD – KEEPING KIDS SAFE FROM GUN VIOLENCE
Maryland Receives Grade of A- On Laws Protecting Kids From Guns
(Washington, D.C.) In its seventh annual analysis of state laws protecting children from gun violence, the
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence united with the Million Mom March, highlighted its progress in
protecting children from gun violence. The analysis noted an encouraging decrease in the number of children
killed by guns. This year, ten states received “Sensible Safety Star†awards for taking responsible steps to
make children safer from gun violence, but nine other states were sent to the “Time-Out Chair†for
irresponsibly weakening state gun laws.
Maryland gun laws received an A- because its gun laws are better than most states. Maryland requires guns to
be sold with internal child-safety locks, requires individuals to be at least 21 years old before buying or owning
a handgun and holds adults responsible for leaving loaded guns around children. Maryland also requires
ballistic imaging of handguns, bans Saturday night specials and assault pistols and limits gun traffickers with a
one-handgun-per-month limit. In 2001, the most recent year for which data is available, 81 children and
teenagers in Maryland died from gunfire.
Maryland could do more to protect children by requiring handguns to be fully “child-proofed†so that
only authorized people can fire them and by expanding its ballistic fingerprint law to include rifles and
shotguns. They could also strengthen their assault weapons ban and will indeed have the opportunity to
do so by acting on legislation that will be introduced in the upcoming session.
Unfortunately, 31 states received grades of D or F in this year’s report card. Not surprisingly, many of these
states have child and teen firearm death rates that are higher than the national average. For example, the
average firearms death rate of youth in the eight states that received an F grade was 33% higher than the
average firearms death rate for the 10 states that received an A or a B.
“Maryland has earned a good grade for protecting children from gun violence, but as long as any parent has
to bury their child due to gun violence our work is not finished,†said Lillian Pubillones Nolan of the
Maryland Million Mom March united with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
“Maryland should lead the country in protecting children from gun violence,†said Leah Barrett Executive
Director of CeaseFire Maryland. “We look forward to working with the legislature on sensible gun laws such
as a strong ban on all assault weapons and handgun safety licensingâ€
