AWB Hearing Recap (was Live Update Thread)

[Spot77]

we're in the hearing room at 1pm. I'm sending this from my phone so sorry about typps and grammar. there's at least 100....closer to 125 people here to opppse the bill
as usual, they're putting us last so they can incnvenience the majority as much as possible. We'll be here at least two hours before sb43 gets brought up. you email questions or suggestions to me at swrep6872@sherwin.com i'll log in here again as soon as possible

 

[Jas]

Thanks for the updates I suffered a back injury at work yesterday and was unable to come today. But at least I get to lay up in bed with a lot of pain killers. Good luck all

 

[Spot77]

"disposal of handguns" bill seems to hae lots of police support and no opposition. this will allow police depts in MD to trade their guns back to manufacturers for new guns, saving taxpayers tons of money and supplying places like CDNN with great used guns to sell.

 

[JasonMD85]

Hey Spot and Norton. Sorry I am not there with you guys, I took the day off work, filled my truck with gas, and got to Annapolis at 11:30 as suggested. I spent untill 12:45 looking for parking untill I gave up and left. I had my 2500 heavy duty chevy, crew cab 8 ft bed. Needless to say it wasnt easy finding parking. All the stupid garages I found were 6'2 clearance and lower... my truck is almost 7 feet tall... I finally found parking in a neighborhood but it was 2 hour only. I left 25 bucks in gas poorer, and a little pissed Anyway, I feel a little better hearing about the turn out, let me know how it goes.

 

[JasonMD85]

Just say the parking lot map thread.. Wow I feel really stupid. I checked here last night to get directions to the court house, didnt see it then, and this morning to double check the address and missed it today also. Makes you feel real good to drive 45 mins each way just to find out there were parking direction available to anyone. Ah well, nothing I can about it at 3 pm.. Let us know how it goes, hopefully you all can put an end to this nonsense.

 

[Spot77]

3:10pm.....pro gun side finally gets to speak after sitting through the ENORMOUS lies that the brady amd ceasefire liars spewed. I need blood pressure meds....or a beer.

 

[Shay]

Wish I could have come, had class today, mandatory... Kick some ass for those of us who can't be there!

 

[nighthawk2099]

GIVE IT TO 'EM GUYS (and Gals, if there are any) !!!!

 

[Spot77]

4:45 and we're still testifying. unofficial count of pro gun people is 210. that's a good turnout. I suspect we still have two more hours of pro gun testimony.

 

[wlc]

my blood boils just thinking about the crap you had to listen to

 

[Sundazes]

From AR15.com, the true numbers

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=8&f=29&t=260209

Text Below:

by
Philip F. Lee

The Washington Post advises Maryland to pass a ban on "assault-style" weapons in the editorial "A Roll Call on Weapons." The Post acknowledges a problem with truthfulness from a Violence Policy Center report which appears to have lied about the "one-in-five" number of police officers killed with such firearms. But the Post dismisses that deception by asking, "What if the statistic were one in 20?" That is a question worth exploring.

Maryland is one of the most violent states with the highest rate of robbery for the past 8 years and high rates of murder and assaults. So, the weapons used to kill Maryland police officers should be of interest to Maryland legislators as they consider any ban.

If we look at the Maryland police officers who have died during the period 1988 through 2003 from trauma received in felonious assaults, we have a total of 19 deaths. One was from stabbing, one from stabbing until incapacitation then the officer's handgun was used to finish him off, one assaulted with an automobile and 16 were straight shootings. Of wounds from these 16 shooting deaths 12 were from handguns, 3 from ordinary shotguns and one from a rifle. According to the Post 1 in 20 criteria, handguns should be banned, shotguns should be banned and rifles should be banned by Maryland.

Here we have a moment of unintended truth from the Post. All guns should be banned from ownership by the people. The Post may claim that isn't their intent. If so, they need to explain why they would leave some firearms, handguns say, in the hands of the people which are involved in more officer deaths than the ones they recommend banning.

Perhaps the Post might want to exempt rifles from its one-in-20 criteria when it hears that the one officer dying from a rifle wound was actually shot in 1977 and died 23 years later and 10 years after retiring with 20 years on the force. If we remove that one death from the list, then no officers died from rifle wounds received in the 16 year period cited.

That's right, Maryland officers have not been shot and killed with AK-47s, AR-15s, M-1As... or any rifle whatsoever during 16 years examined (and this is the record in one of the most violent states in the union). Perhaps the Post should re-think its support for banning "assault-style" firearms

 

[Boxcab]

Post Mortum

I had to leave at 4:00 so I missed over half of the "Against" talk... But some things I noticed...

1) Guns are ALWAYS discussed as only doing harm. No one asked the "experts" how many lives have been SAVED by the vary same guns that would be banned. Someone needs to get the Senators to ask that question of the experts/Police.

2) Only the standard Anti-Groups (Ceasefire, Brady) spoke in favor of the bill. No "individuals" stood up for it. Only Organizations and Political Appointee Police Officers. This needs to be exploited. If CeaseFire has XXXX number of passionate members, where are they???

3) Need to call BS on "No sporting use". The AR-15 IS used in many competitions, as are MOST of the rifles that would be affected. (As well as the semi-auto pistols). This point NEEDS to be made for the Senators. There are traditional copetitions for Rifle, pistol and shotguns.

4) More as time allows.

All in All I was very encouraged.

-Boxcab

 

[Douglas]

The competition shooters will be represented. I am stuck in the office here in VA, but the president of the MD competition shooters, Bill Alred, should be testifying about the use of not only semi-auto pistols (that "can accept" a threaded barrel & can't be brought into the state) - but also how we use the AR-15 for sporting purposes. The competition shooter's site for Maryland seems to be down at this moment, but its address is www.mpsa.net We have hosted the "Mason Dixon 3-gun" for the last 2 years with a PERFECT safety record and the predominant rifle used for this COMPETITION is the AR-15 (though Bill used his AR-10). Our good friend Henry of MSI is a member of the host club, Thurmont and he shoots with us often in USPSA, USPSA 3-gun and helps run the IDPA out at Thurmont.

However, AR-15 competition in MD is not just USPSA 3 gun (sometimes called "ipsc") it is also the group of IDPA style/outlaw/Multi-gun competition as we shoot at St. Charles in Waldorf, MD and Sanner's Lake just south of there. Both of these shoots attract folks to MD that will be prohibited from ever competing in the state by this bill since you can't bring a pistol or banned rifle into the state from VA if the bill passes.

I pointed this out in the GSSF (glock competition) section of Glocktalk.com and in their "Competition" section (see post - "The end of pistol competition in MD?").

I think there is some sort of high power rifle shot with ARs and M1a out at marriotsville, but its been years since I lived in MD; is there a big group testifying from AGC, the MSRP assoc. or the NRA? What is the latest?

Thanks for the updates.

 

[Falkus]

WOW, I wasnt expecting alot of people but I am glad that the people are there to Oppose the BAN...

but I wanted to know how many ANTI were there ? if we outnumbered it, we should be fine ...


I just hope they dont do anything stupid ...

 

[Douglas]

How are they going to hear all 210 people testify if they started late and allow 20 min. per witness? Seems only fair to table the matter (or drop it altogether).

 

[Shay]

They'll just have to sit there all night... Least thats what I'd make them do. Or drop the ban, that works too... I want to be able to get my damn guns when I'm 21!

 

[Simon Yu]

How are they going to hear all 210 people testify if they started late and allow 20 min. per witness? Seems only fair to table the matter (or drop it altogether).

This could wind up as an unplanned filibuster of sorts . . . Hope you guys brought enough snacks. Keep it up in there.

 

[Douglas]

Here are the links:

http://www.glocktalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=648568

and

http://www.glocktalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=648564

and also Sigforum.com:

http://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/140601935/m/327104618


Looks like we got the word out - let's hope the committee at least NOTICED the numbers even if all 210 in opposition were not heard.

 

[Redneck]

They'll just have to sit there all night... Least thats what I'd make them do. Or drop the ban, that works too... I want to be able to get my damn guns when I'm 21!

Im not 21 and I bought an AR 15 at the Timonium show a few weeks ago.

 

[Shay]

Eh, my dad works at a gun shop, and the owner goes shooting with us. I can play with all the toys, I'm in no hurry, but when I turn 21, I want my own...