From the Frederick News Post:
Good on the Frederick County Council for rejecting a bill this week that would have sharply scaled back the discretion now given to the Maryland State Police to decide who should get a permit to carry a concealed firearm in the state.
Council members voted 4-3 Thursday against including the measure as part of its legislative agenda to send to lawmakers in Annapolis, with Republicans Billy Shreve, Kirby Delauter and Tony Chmelik voting in support of it.
The bill sought by Delauter and company was to seek to make Maryland a “shall issue” state, which would require authorities to issue permits as long as applicants meet certain minimum criteria, such as proof of residency or not having a criminal history.
Currently, Maryland regulates concealed-carry permits on a “may issue” basis, which requires residents to state a clear and present need when applying. As a result of this, the number of concealed carry permits issued in Maryland is low. In 2014, there were just under 14,300 such permits issued in Maryland, which has a population of about 6 million people. Missouri, also with a population of about 6 million, and a shall-issue state, had about 171,000 active permit holders in 2014.
The council’s Republicans shouldn’t have bothered. The likelihood that the Democratic legislature is going to scale back its concealed-carry law is slim to-ain’t-gonna-happen. The General Assembly passed tough new regulations on gun ownership in 2013, in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and the state successfully defended its concealed-carry law before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that same year after a federal judge ruled in 2012 that it was unconstitutional. Those aren’t the actions of a state that’s going to consider weakening its ability to decide who gets to walk around with a concealed handgun.
Council members took an hour to decide against including this bill in the county’s legislative agenda. It was an hour that could have been better spent.
Good on the Frederick County Council for rejecting a bill this week that would have sharply scaled back the discretion now given to the Maryland State Police to decide who should get a permit to carry a concealed firearm in the state.
Council members voted 4-3 Thursday against including the measure as part of its legislative agenda to send to lawmakers in Annapolis, with Republicans Billy Shreve, Kirby Delauter and Tony Chmelik voting in support of it.
The bill sought by Delauter and company was to seek to make Maryland a “shall issue” state, which would require authorities to issue permits as long as applicants meet certain minimum criteria, such as proof of residency or not having a criminal history.
Currently, Maryland regulates concealed-carry permits on a “may issue” basis, which requires residents to state a clear and present need when applying. As a result of this, the number of concealed carry permits issued in Maryland is low. In 2014, there were just under 14,300 such permits issued in Maryland, which has a population of about 6 million people. Missouri, also with a population of about 6 million, and a shall-issue state, had about 171,000 active permit holders in 2014.
The council’s Republicans shouldn’t have bothered. The likelihood that the Democratic legislature is going to scale back its concealed-carry law is slim to-ain’t-gonna-happen. The General Assembly passed tough new regulations on gun ownership in 2013, in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and the state successfully defended its concealed-carry law before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that same year after a federal judge ruled in 2012 that it was unconstitutional. Those aren’t the actions of a state that’s going to consider weakening its ability to decide who gets to walk around with a concealed handgun.
Council members took an hour to decide against including this bill in the county’s legislative agenda. It was an hour that could have been better spent.