Details of the bill:
Synopsis: "Prohibiting a person from wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun loaded with ammunition on or about the person or in a vehicle under specified circumstances; prohibiting a person from possessing a regulated firearm loaded with ammunition under specified circumstances or if the person is under a specified age; establishing penalties for violations of the Act; requiring the State to comply with the procedures set forth in the Maryland Rules for the indictment and trial of a subsequent offender; etc."
House hearing is on Tuesday March 15th at 1 PM. Senate hearing is likely on Wednesday 3/9 at 1 PM. I don't have the Senate bill number.
Text of the bill is here and further details are located here.
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Suggested talking points:
* Mandatory Minimums do not allow judges to distinguish between egregious violations of the law and technical violations of the law.
* For suspects who use a gun while committing another crime, enhanced penalties could be a useful deterrent.
* For individuals who make a mistake, judges are given no leeway.
* This bill treats a repeat offender carrying a stolen gun who robs and rapes a woman the same as the victim who might be visiting, lawfully carrying a concealed weapon from her home state under permit, but not knowing that Maryland does not have carry reciprocity.
* The bill is not necessary. There are already similar laws on the books to punish those who illegally carry a gun in the commission of a crime.
* However the bill could be amended and made acceptable, even with mandatory minimums, if the conditions for enhanced penalties included carrying a loaded firearm while in the commission of another crime.
* Frequently Maryland carry permit holders with a approved Good and Substantial reasons have restrictions placed on their permits that are subject to interpretation at best, and ambiguous at worst. This bill imposes a draconian punishment on a permit holder if the interpretation of the time, manner, and place contained in the restrictions are subject to dispute. Even technical or momentary infractions are dealt with in the most extreme fashion.
* Other states with similar laws (e.g. NY, NJ) have had some extremely sad examples of people making very minor mistakes, who were prosecuted and sentenced using these draconian mandatory minimums. These include moms, correctional officers, nurses, and many other outstanding citizens with no prior criminal records.
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How to help:
* Visit Annapolis in person. Show up and testify on Tuesday 3/15 for the House bill and 3/9 for the Senate bill. Sign up by noon to testify starting at 1 PM. If you want to provide written testimony, by 11 AM leave 30 copies for the House (20 for the Senate on a subsequent date). Then go speak with your delegates after the hearings. If you don't know who represents you in the GA, you can find that out here.
* Make phone calls. Once you know who represents you, the entire list of GA legislators can be found here. Links off of that page will lead you to each legislator, to include his or her phone & fax numbers, office locations, individual email addresses, and other contact information.
* Email your legislators, or even the entire General Assembly. There are convenient emailers at AGC or also the Civic Action email system. You don't need to cover all of the points I suggested above. Pick one, or two. Something in their inbox is better than nothing. In aggregate, we'll cover it all, but everyone has to do their part.
Re: emails, I'd recommend you pick one bad bill a night and send it off. The drip drip drip of all of us flooding the GA's email servers every day and every week is much more effective than a one size fits all massive blast you only do once. You don't have to be wordy. Pick a bill, make your points, then come back the next night and do it again with another bill. When you've cycled through them all, have people you know believe the same way join in to do it too. Which leads me to:
* Get your wife involved, your kids involved, your neighbors, your friends, your work colleagues who feel the same way, the folks on your social media accounts, etc. At the moment I'm not seeing the passion we need to stop this and other bad bills; we all need to do more.
* I'd also suggest on all of those emails, calls, etc. that you contact Governor Larry Hogan as well, and ask him to veto the bill if it passes, stating the reasons why you believe he should do that. You can find his contact information here.
By all means use any or all of the information above that you find helpful, but of course put it in your own words. This should be personalized to you otherwise cut & pastes will be recognized for what they are and ignored. It doesn't have to be long, it doesn't have to be eloquent - just speak from your heart even if brief and that will make a difference.
-----
Final comment:
There's already opposition to this bill, ref: here. In Maryland that's no guarantee of success, but we should join with those Democratic leaders who are sympathetic to the abuses in this bill, and work with them to amend or stop this bill altogether. This is a great example of where "playing nice" can help us. While some are playing "bad cop" on other bills, we need a team that can legitimately play "good cop" on getting this bill amended or killed.
Synopsis: "Prohibiting a person from wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun loaded with ammunition on or about the person or in a vehicle under specified circumstances; prohibiting a person from possessing a regulated firearm loaded with ammunition under specified circumstances or if the person is under a specified age; establishing penalties for violations of the Act; requiring the State to comply with the procedures set forth in the Maryland Rules for the indictment and trial of a subsequent offender; etc."
House hearing is on Tuesday March 15th at 1 PM. Senate hearing is likely on Wednesday 3/9 at 1 PM. I don't have the Senate bill number.
Text of the bill is here and further details are located here.
-----
Suggested talking points:
* Mandatory Minimums do not allow judges to distinguish between egregious violations of the law and technical violations of the law.
* For suspects who use a gun while committing another crime, enhanced penalties could be a useful deterrent.
* For individuals who make a mistake, judges are given no leeway.
* This bill treats a repeat offender carrying a stolen gun who robs and rapes a woman the same as the victim who might be visiting, lawfully carrying a concealed weapon from her home state under permit, but not knowing that Maryland does not have carry reciprocity.
* The bill is not necessary. There are already similar laws on the books to punish those who illegally carry a gun in the commission of a crime.
* However the bill could be amended and made acceptable, even with mandatory minimums, if the conditions for enhanced penalties included carrying a loaded firearm while in the commission of another crime.
* Frequently Maryland carry permit holders with a approved Good and Substantial reasons have restrictions placed on their permits that are subject to interpretation at best, and ambiguous at worst. This bill imposes a draconian punishment on a permit holder if the interpretation of the time, manner, and place contained in the restrictions are subject to dispute. Even technical or momentary infractions are dealt with in the most extreme fashion.
* Other states with similar laws (e.g. NY, NJ) have had some extremely sad examples of people making very minor mistakes, who were prosecuted and sentenced using these draconian mandatory minimums. These include moms, correctional officers, nurses, and many other outstanding citizens with no prior criminal records.
-----
How to help:
* Visit Annapolis in person. Show up and testify on Tuesday 3/15 for the House bill and 3/9 for the Senate bill. Sign up by noon to testify starting at 1 PM. If you want to provide written testimony, by 11 AM leave 30 copies for the House (20 for the Senate on a subsequent date). Then go speak with your delegates after the hearings. If you don't know who represents you in the GA, you can find that out here.
* Make phone calls. Once you know who represents you, the entire list of GA legislators can be found here. Links off of that page will lead you to each legislator, to include his or her phone & fax numbers, office locations, individual email addresses, and other contact information.
* Email your legislators, or even the entire General Assembly. There are convenient emailers at AGC or also the Civic Action email system. You don't need to cover all of the points I suggested above. Pick one, or two. Something in their inbox is better than nothing. In aggregate, we'll cover it all, but everyone has to do their part.
Re: emails, I'd recommend you pick one bad bill a night and send it off. The drip drip drip of all of us flooding the GA's email servers every day and every week is much more effective than a one size fits all massive blast you only do once. You don't have to be wordy. Pick a bill, make your points, then come back the next night and do it again with another bill. When you've cycled through them all, have people you know believe the same way join in to do it too. Which leads me to:
* Get your wife involved, your kids involved, your neighbors, your friends, your work colleagues who feel the same way, the folks on your social media accounts, etc. At the moment I'm not seeing the passion we need to stop this and other bad bills; we all need to do more.
* I'd also suggest on all of those emails, calls, etc. that you contact Governor Larry Hogan as well, and ask him to veto the bill if it passes, stating the reasons why you believe he should do that. You can find his contact information here.
By all means use any or all of the information above that you find helpful, but of course put it in your own words. This should be personalized to you otherwise cut & pastes will be recognized for what they are and ignored. It doesn't have to be long, it doesn't have to be eloquent - just speak from your heart even if brief and that will make a difference.
-----
Final comment:
There's already opposition to this bill, ref: here. In Maryland that's no guarantee of success, but we should join with those Democratic leaders who are sympathetic to the abuses in this bill, and work with them to amend or stop this bill altogether. This is a great example of where "playing nice" can help us. While some are playing "bad cop" on other bills, we need a team that can legitimately play "good cop" on getting this bill amended or killed.
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