21st Gun Bill Day thread

Boxcab said:

7:55PM Paul and John still holding down the front row!

Way to go guys, you are true leaders of the cause.

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I owe each and every one of you who attended today!

mr h said:

I sure hope the Lt. doesn't end up back in a squad car for this!!!

Did anyone else notice Smigel recited "Article 6" verbatim without breaking eye contact??

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I got a great video of that exchange. The audio kind've sucks. I'm loading it up now on youtube.

p.s.-i may have underestimated how damned large hd video files are when i was taking them.

Oh yes, you should be afraid of this bill...

View from the MSI Sandwich Boarders

Here’s some anecdotal observations from the feet-on-the-street before the hearings began.

We were out in force starting around 8:30, struttin’ our stuff around Church Circle, the Governor’s Mansion, and up and down Rowe Blvd near Lawyers Mall.

Reaction was mixed, but overwhelmingly positive. Many passers-by wouldn’t make eye contact even though they were greeted with a pleasant “Good Morning” from each of us. We think it was because they assumed we were trying to sell them something … which we were … Shall Issue. From the people I did interact with, the score was 6 positive and 1 negative … the criteria for interaction being that they inquired about the issue on the sign.

Here’s my tally.

Positives

2 were Red Scarf Ladies (Republican Women) who were there for other legislative activities, but supportive of our cause just the same.

2 were Delegates on different committees than the Judiciary, but committed to voting ‘for’ HB 45 if it came up

1 was a former Ohio resident who just moved here, but left his firearms in Ohio because he heard that he couldn’t bring them to the PRofMD. I advised him to join MSI and MDShooters and find out the truth.

And the last positive was a lobbyist for the alcoholic beverage industry who admitted that he carried without a permit because of all of the questionable areas he went into Baltimore City. He wished us luck in making him legal.

Negative

The one and only negative response was a gentleman who stopped me, and as I handed him the MSI brochure explaining ‘shall issue’ said “I served in Vietnam, and I don’t think anyone should have guns” and he shoved it back in my hand. No use trying to convince him otherwise …

Then, I went down to dockside for a cup of coffee and potty break, I ran into some of our other board carriers who were engaged in a conversation with a young woman from New Zealand. She commented that NO ONE in New Zealand carried a gun, including the cops, who coincidently had just recently been issued side arms, which they presently keep locked in their trunk. She said that they biggest 3-day-running news story was when some lady’s tabby got stuck high up in a tree. The MSM in NZ must be very much like the US; either that or they also have the lock on other fantasies like unicorns and leprecans.

I’ll leave other tidbits to my fellow ‘boarders’ to post.

dlmcbm said:

I am sorry for my ignorance of how laws are made but what is the next step and when will we see that?

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Once a bill is heard in committee, the next step is to desk drawer or vote. The chair of the committee can either never schedule a vote (desk drawer/pigeon hole) or schedule a vote.

If a bill receives a favorable report, it goes to the full house to be considered. It can die here or get a vote.

If it passes the House, a companion bill would need to be filed in the Senate, and then go through the rules committee since it is past the deadline.

The same rules apply in the Senate.

The chair of the senate committee is a foaming at the mouth anti, whereas the house guy is very difficult to know how he truly feels.

If both the Senate and House pass, it goes to the governor who can either sign it, veto it, or let it become law by inaction. (Not vetoing a bill in Maryland makes it become law.)

Oh my..... This should be good...

Damned Governor sent a lackey to testify on the bill.

edleary1227 said:

Then, I went down to dockside for a cup of coffee and potty break, I ran into some of our other board carriers who were engaged in a conversation with a young woman from New Zealand. She commented that NO ONE in New Zealand carried a gun, including the cops, who coincidently had just recently been issued side arms, which they presently keep locked in their trunk. She said that they biggest 3-day-running news story was when some lady’s tabby got stuck high up in a tree. The MSM in NZ must be very much like the US; either that or they also have the lock on other fantasies like unicorns and leprecans.

I’ll leave other tidbits to my fellow ‘boarders’ to post.

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The young lady you mention was quite engaging AND supportive. As long as she tells 2 friends, and so on... I consider it one of the best encounters of any sort I had today.

As for the highlighted bit... we have our OWN leprechaun... and he ain't helping.

Now here we go....

Damn, I had no idea it would run so late or I would have gone down after work

gprimr1 said:

Damn, I had no idea it would run so late or I would have gone down after work

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Same.

I'm really upset now that they are testifying on this bill, cause this is one I really feel strongly about.

mr h said:

Completely my own assessment, here...

Watching the Lt. and the Cpl. answer the questions, I got the distinct feeling that the Lt.--if left to voice his own opinion--would be FOR shall-issue. He uncomfortably dodged anything that might have caused him to say as much.

The Cpl., on the other hand, would have been a better mouthpiece for the MSP since he buys into to the 'company line'.

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The Corporal was till relatively young compared to the Lt.

The former was making sure he kept his pension, the later was promised a promotion. Isn't AMZING what things you will do when your boss is the Governor ... 30 pieces of silver doesn't buy much these days does it ?

mr h said:

Fixed the comment... I thought the distinction was worth pointing out.

I spoke with him after the first round was complete.

He's exactly "who I thought he was"... and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it did enlighten me a bit.

He admitted to being compulsive about his research, and that he will speak his mind, regardless. The fact that he will say things in an unpopular way makes things interesting, to say the least.

I do give him credit for still wanting to fight with us rather than just say screw it... I don't see him curbing his shoot-from-the-lip nature. But, I found him pleasant and bright... just highly opinionated!!

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He certainly spares no words in his criticism of MSI. For that reason alone I discount most any of his "statements of fact" as he sees them.

As you noted, bright guy. No people skills at all however. Pity, we could use his help but not in the manner he has offerred it.

Simmons throwing us a bone in that he's willing to support MSI and AGC being on the roster of folks on the task force. Still would comprise a stacked deck, though.

Edit: Thank you, Delegate Kelly. That's exactly what I said.

oh no... at face value this current line of talk doesn't seem like a good direction..

gprimr1 said:

Once a bill is heard in committee, the next step is to desk drawer or vote. The chair of the committee can either never schedule a vote (desk drawer/pigeon hole) or schedule a vote.

If a bill receives a favorable report, it goes to the full house to be considered. It can die here or get a vote.

If it passes the House, a companion bill would need to be filed in the Senate, and then go through the rules committee since it is past the deadline.

The same rules apply in the Senate.

The chair of the senate committee is a foaming at the mouth anti, whereas the house guy is very difficult to know how he truly feels.

If both the Senate and House pass, it goes to the governor who can either sign it, veto it, or let it become law by inaction. (Not vetoing a bill in Maryland makes it become law.)

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So in other words Its been a warm winter here and I don't think HELL is going to freeze over this year? LOL

"This is a baby step..." Code for "this is just the beginning..."

Simmons showing some true colors, I believe, talking about the "coming tragedy" and how we'd get railroaded in the heat of hte moment, Jessica's Law in reverse.

"You should have nothing to fear!" ********, sir.

SkunkWerX said:

I owe each and every one of you who attended today!

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Thanks to each of you who walked the walk and talked the talk. I spent the early part of the day at the orthopedic surgeon and came home and tried to follow the hearings. I didn't have much luck, for my computer kept buffering so much it was just aggravating.

It just seems like the deck is stacked. Even if you somehow get it through the Senate, I just don't see O'Malley not vetoing it. I think we need to think outside the box. There has to be a back door to this. Perhaps what we really need are victims of recent crimes who could have been safer if they had been allowed to carry. It would have to be current crimes since Maryland tightened its laws.

I still can't get past the idea of carrying being perfectly legal in some states, yet illegal in others. Makes no sense to me!