UPDATE- Presidents visit- affect on rally and hearing

[Delegate Dwyer]

Dear Defender of Civil Liberty:

There are continued rumors and speculation about the President being in Annapolis on Wednesday.- I want to assure each of you that the RALLY and HEARING is proceeding as scheduled. I have confirmed with DGS police that everything is in place and no one will be made to leave or denied entrance into the Lawyers Mall Courtyard or the Senate and House Buildings.

We do know that the President will be coming to the Westin Hotel to address US Senate Democrats at their Congressional Retreat. We expect West Street to be closed. Plan of coming by way of Route 50 to Rowe Blvd and parking at the Navy Memorial Stadium. In the event that the shuttles are running slow, and you would like to walk, it is roughly a 1 mile walk from the stadium parking lot to Lawyer’s Mall and Miller Senate Building.

Please do not let this discourage your participation, we need every able bodied person here to come and speak up in defense of their natural right to self defense!

I have attached an updated version of the fact sheet on SB 281 that can be made into a pamphlet (print two sided) – Thanks owed to Maryland Shall Issue for picking the bill apart and putting together the information. I know they are constantly going over the bill and finding new ramifications and so we are getting information on a steady basis which I will forward to you.

Please be reminded of the hearing on Wednesday. – Information below:
Please feel free to contact me, or my aide, Louisa at 410-841-3047 or by responding to this email, should you have any questions. Hope to see each of you there on Wednesday!

Hearing for SB 281 Feb 6th 1pm
Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee room
Miller Senate Building
11 Bladen Street, Annapolis MD

If you are testifying: Please arrive as early as possible to sign in, the committee will take sign ins until about noon. You will be given 3 minutes to speak.
If you are submitting written testimony you must bring a copy for each of the Senators who sit on the committee (11 copies) and submit them to Committee staff before noon so they can make sure all of the Senators have the materials on their desks.

There are various parking garages in Annapolis, or you can park at the Naval Academy Stadium and ride the Annapolis Shuttle/Trolley to Lawyers Mall- The Senate Building is right across the Street.

Be prepared to spend the whole day here, whether you testify or not, what is important is that we are there in numbers to stand in opposition. We need thousands of gun owners.

 

[AntiGun]

Thank you, and can you post the updated version of the fact sheet on SB 281 here as well.
Much thanks.

 

[madchestermonkey]

Heres the text from the attachment

“Assault Weapons” Banned
This bill dramatically expands the definition of
assault weapons. It creates new classes of
banned weapons: Assault Long Guns and
Copycat Weapons
All firearms fitting these definitions will be
illegal to purchase or bring into the State after
October 1, 2013.
All current owners will be forced to register
them or face up to 3 years in prison.
Semi-Automatic Handguns:
• Assault Pistols, BANNED
(no grandfathering if purchased after 1994)
• Fixed magazine > 10 rounds, BANNED
• Barrel Shrouds, BANNED
• Threaded Barrels, BANNED
• Second hand-grip, BANNED
• Magazines inserted outside of the pistol grip,
BANNED
Shotguns:
• Any shotgun currently regulated, BANNED
• Revolver-style shotgun, BANNED
• Semi-Auto Shotguns BANNED if:
◦ Telescoping OR Folding stock
AND
◦ Pistol grip
Semi-Automatic Centerfire Rifles:
• Any rifle currently regulated, BANNED
• Lengths less than 30” BANNED
• Fixed magazines > 10 rounds, BANNED
• Forward pistol/vertical grips, BANNED
• Thumbhole stocks, BANNED
• Telescoping or Folding stocks, BANNED
• Grenade/Flare launchers, BANNED
• Flash hiders, BANNED
10 Round Magazine Limit
All detachable magazines with a round count
of >10 rounds will be illegal to purchase or
transfer into the State of Maryland.
Banned Weapon Regulations
• Existing owners may keep their weapons,
but must register them or face up to 3 years
in prison and/or a $5,000 fine.
• No person under the age of 21 may own a
banned weapon
• If you can't own a banned weapon, you may
not own ammunition for that weapon either
• Existing owners will not be able to sell a
banned weapon in Maryland.
Firearm Qualification License
To purchase or RENT a handgun OF ANY
TYPE, you must first obtain a license. This
license is akin to a Firearms owners ID
(FOID). What must you do to obtain this
license?
• $100 Non-refundable fee every 5 years
• Background check, including fingerprints
(you must pay the costs)
• 8 hour training class (you must pay for class
and ammunition)
• Demonstrate “proficiency and use”
(hard to do if you can't rent a gun without this license)
• Total estimated costs: $385
Carry Permits
• No change has been made to the Good and
Substantial clause of the law, which is the
current law that makes it nearly impossible
to get a carry permit
• In addition to that, a new 16-hour handgun
training course must be completed as well.
Bill Ramifications
• Demonizes owners of a massive number of
commonplace weapons, by banning the
purchase or transfer of those weapons;
including those moving into the state. This
affects many weapons not previously
regulated.
• Restricts ammunition such that anyone
under 21 may not possess any ammunition
outside of the presence of an adult (over
21). This means young hunters, and target
shooters are out of luck.
• Insults our young adult military members,
by denying them the right to own
ammunition, even for training purposes.
While at the same time allowing them to join
the military, use real assault rifles, be placed
in a war zone, and be killed.
• Criminalizes formerly law abiding gun
owners if they fail to abide by the new law,
by awarding them with prison time and
stripping their right to own any firearms.
• Burdens the poor from exercising their 2A
right to defend themselves. Imagine a poor
single mother that has been threatened.
She is being asked to front $385 just to be
allowed to purchase a handgun.
• Mandates minimum sentences that cannot
be suspended or shortened by parole for 5
years on first offense and increasing to a
decade on second violation. Prosecutors
can still plea bargain away the charge.
• Confuses transportation laws of regulated
weapons. It appears that if you transport a
grandfathered banned weapon out of state it
will be illegal to ever bring it back into
Maryland.
• Excludes new shooters by requiring an
expensive and complicated license to rent a
handgun.

 

[jaycee2004]

So I will have to register my Yugo sks m59/66a1 due to the grenade launcher or no? I thought antiques were exempt from this

 

[erwos]

So I will have to register my Yugo sks m59/66a1 due to the grenade launcher or no? I thought antiques were exempt from this

Nope, the grenade launcher is only a banned feature on rifles with detachable mags.

 

[ThatIsAFact]

ammunition disqualification

Heres the text from the attachment


• If you can't own a banned weapon, you may
not own ammunition for that weapon either

I believe that MSI is performing an important service by circulating distilled information on what is in the bill. However, I think there are some errors in their summary. I don't find anything in the bill that corresponds to what I have quoted above. The bill would ban many semi-auto firearms on the basis of various peripheral features of configuration. Obviously, there would be non-banned firearms, semi-auto or other, that would utilize most of the same cartridges, so that statement about "ammunition for that weapon" really doesn't add up.

The actual "ammunition disqualification" in the bill is not specific to any particular type of firearm. If you read page 26 of the Senate bill, lines 1-6, it states quite clearly that if a person "is prohibited from possessing a regulated firearm under Sec. 5-133 of this subtitle" -- which is the whole long list of disqualifications for obtaining a handgun, both those found in current law and the array of new disqualifications that are proposed -- then that person "may not possess ammunition." It defines "ammunition" as "a cartridge, shell or any other device containing explosive or incendiary material designed and intended for use in a firearm." Thus, if a person is not eligible to possess a handgun, he or she would also be prohibited from possession of ANY ammunition for ANY firearm at ANY time.

It also appears to me that a person under age 21 may not be able to shoot a handgun even under adult supervision. While there is an exception to the under-21 ban on "possession" in current law, for certain adult-supervised activities, the bill imposes a new barrier: It says (on page 16) that no person may "receive a handgun" without first obtaining the "handgun qualification license," and it appears to me that this license would not be available to those under age 21.

Likewise, it's hard to see how you can take a friend of any age out to the range to shoot a handgun for the first time, if he or she cannot legally "receive" a handgun until after completing the course, test, fingerprinting, and so forth.

I'd be happy for someone to show me that I've got any of this wrong.

 

[Mr H]

This is continually being updated, and I believe that has since be reworded to be more correct.

A better summary might be, as you stated above,

Thus, if a person is not eligible to possess a handgun, he or she would also be prohibited from possession of ANY ammunition for ANY firearm at ANY time

The bottom line is that this is a monstrosity of a bill, and the best thing is to kill it entirely.

 

[Sthomas229]

Link to current MSI pamphlet http://marylandshallissue.org/share/SB0281_pamphlet.pdf

 

[Sthomas229]

I believe that MSI is performing an important service by circulating distilled information on what is in the bill. However, I think there are some errors in their summary. I don't find anything in the bill that corresponds to what I have quoted above. The bill would ban many semi-auto firearms on the basis of various peripheral features of configuration. Obviously, there would be non-banned firearms, semi-auto or other, that would utilize most of the same cartridges, so that statement about "ammunition for that weapon" really doesn't add up.

The actual "ammunition disqualification" in the bill is not specific to any particular type of firearm. If you read page 26 of the Senate bill, lines 1-6, it states quite clearly that if a person "is prohibited from possessing a regulated firearm under Sec. 5-133 of this subtitle" -- which is the whole long list of disqualifications for obtaining a handgun, both those found in current law and the array of new disqualifications that are proposed -- then that person "may not possess ammunition." It defines "ammunition" as "a cartridge, shell or any other device containing explosive or incendiary material designed and intended for use in a firearm." Thus, if a person is not eligible to possess a handgun, he or she would also be prohibited from possession of ANY ammunition for ANY firearm at ANY time.

It also appears to me that a person under age 21 may not be able to shoot a handgun even under adult supervision. While there is an exception to the under-21 ban on "possession" in current law, for certain adult-supervised activities, the bill imposes a new barrier: It says (on page 16) that no person may "receive a handgun" without first obtaining the "handgun qualification license," and it appears to me that this license would not be available to those under age 21.

Likewise, it's hard to see how you can take a friend of any age out to the range to shoot a handgun for the first time, if he or she cannot legally "receive" a handgun until after completing the course, test, fingerprinting, and so forth.

I'd be happy for someone to show me that I've got any of this wrong.

The way I read it, no ammo for anything if you are under 21.

 

[Lawyer56]

The Bill of Rights, Amendment I, states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

I wonder if our state legislators would be amiable to passing laws in Maryland requiring that all persons who seek to exercise their freedom of speech must undergo 8 hours of training on how to speak and what to say, demonstrate proficiency and use of the English language before exercising any right to say what is on their minds, pay a fee to exercise their right to speak, require registration of their opinions with the state, limit their speech to a set number of words or opinions, require that people establish good and substantial reason, as determined by representatives of the state police, for their opinions and their thoughts, outlaw langauge that others may find objectionable or simply have no interest or belief in, and ban any and all words that could possibly upset or offend someone for any reason.

 

[Lawyer56]

And any non-violent "mentally ill" person should have their right to free speech terminated, curtailed, violated, and subject to limitations and restrictions until they can demonstrate and prove that their opinions are main-stream and otherwise acceptable.

 

[Lawyer56]

And who really needs free speech anyway?

 

[ThatIsAFact]

expansive prohibitions on possession of firearms and ammo

The way I read it, no ammo for anything if you are under 21.

It's not only if you are under 21. The complete prohibition on possession of any type of ammunition applies to anyone who is prohibited from possessing a regulated firearm for any reason listed under Section 5-133 of the Public Safety Article. For example, under the bill, someone who lives in another state and who is annoyed with you -- maybe because you testified against him in a criminal trial, or sued him for fraud, or any number of other reasons -- could take out a temporary restraining order against you, ordering you not to contact him by any means. In some states, such orders are issued essentially on request, on a temporary basis, without any advance notice to the "targeted" person. It's no big deal now. But under language found in SB 281 on page 23, lines 30-32, and page 34, lines 22-24, as soon as such an order is issued in any state, or by any Indian tribe, it would instantly become a crime for you to possess any type of firearm in Maryland, except an antique rifle or shotgun. In addition, under the language on page 26, already discussed, you would also be prohibited from possessing any ammunition for any firearm, including ammunition or ammunition components for antique or black powder firearms.

This does not refer to domestic-violence orders, which can be sought only by domestic partners and other classes of persons that are defined fairly narrowly in statute. Such domestic protective orders already entail firearms confiscation in Maryland. The orders included in the bill can be sought by absolutely anybody.

Here's an article that appeared in the Washington Post that illustrates how these orders have been abused in Virginia since the legislature there expanded the classes of people who can seek them:
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/...405_1_protective-order-yeardley-love-requests

 

[Mark75H]

Thank you Delegate Dwyer. It was a pleasure to meet you on Saturday

 

[Mr H]

And who really needs free speech anyway?

I can't say.

No, really. They won't let me!

 

[EL1227]

More than just SB281

While SB281 is the monster of all civil rights limiting (e.g. gun control) bills being introduced, there are TOO MANY TO COUNT, good, bad and UGLY also being introduced that parse SB281 and it's House companion HB294 into smaller pieces.

Guns - 2013 Regular Session - Total Bills: 48

Bottom line ... Come out on Feb 6th, be counted, and let your voices be heard.

 

[George]

Thank you for supporting us and helping get the word out about the 6th. We need more people like you in office fighting for our rights.

 

[JPG]

While SB281 is the monster of all civil rights limiting (e.g. gun control) bills being introduced, there are TOO MANY TO COUNT, good, bad and UGLY also being introduced that parse SB281 and it's House companion HB294 into smaller pieces.

This is my worry. Everyone focusing on SB281 while the left hand sneaks the other 47 by because no one opposes the other bad ones.

 

[Ab_Normal]

The Bill of Rights, Amendment I, states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

I wonder if our state legislators would be amiable to passing laws in Maryland requiring that all persons who seek to exercise their freedom of speech must undergo 8 hours of training on how to speak and what to say, demonstrate proficiency and use of the English language before exercising any right to say what is on their minds, pay a fee to exercise their right to speak, require registration of their opinions with the state, limit their speech to a set number of words or opinions, require that people establish good and substantial reason, as determined by representatives of the state police, for their opinions and their thoughts, outlaw langauge that others may find objectionable or simply have no interest or belief in, and ban any and all words that could possibly upset or offend someone for any reason.

Agreed. BUT...they can't even decide what the official language should be.

 

[WeaponsCollector]

Punish and criminalize thousands of lawful gun owners because of the actions of some homicidal nutcases who broke countless laws?
I will not comply with such tyranny.
MOLON LABE.