The Maryland Gun Center

[md_rick_o]

Welcome aboard Sir. Thank you for not kowtowing to the big wigs and speaking the truth. I look forward to reading more from you. I say beware the malcontents here but i trust you have a lot of practice weeding out the malarkey.

 

[platoonDaddy]

Disregard, my bad. Didn't read the whole thread.

 

[Mark75H]

Welcome Jack. Thank you for supporting US.

 

[Sourkraut115]

Glad to see you on here, sir. And for the record, my contacts with the Gun Center for investigations have been extremely helpful. On this forum, some members (by no means all) tend to forget that there are real crimes committed by real bad guys with guns, and that real cops have to deal with them. From at least that angle, the Gun Center has been very useful, and I was sort of pleasantly surprised by that.

 

[Lou45]

Hi Jack. Always fun to say, except on airplanes.

Leave it up to Mooseman.......

I do not take offense to the question. If you ask anyone who knows me, they would find it hard to believe I let that happen. I don't back down from anyone and I speak out on a regular basis. As I sat and listened to the many arguments, I seethed at their ignorance. I had passing thoughts of taking over the podium an spilling my guts on everything I knew and didn't know. But, the fact is that the Office of the Governor holds a ruling authority over the Department of State Police. When a member of the Governor's Office gave an order, unless it was unlawful, I was to follow it. Before you say it, the First Amendment Right does not apply to an officer in uniform while holding an official position. I could have answered the question, yes. But in 23 years of service, I had never been charged with any violation of agency rules. I can promise you if I gave an answer in that room, I would have been punished, both formally and informally. I did not plan to retire that year. In fact, I had no plans to retire any time soon. I just hoped to get the hell out of the Licensing Division if I'm being perfectly honest. I hoped at the end of the session I would be set free from that assignment. So, I tried to behave. I have a family and they are first. A demotion would have meant less income and a lot of hassle for my family. No easier way of saying it. Do I think my testimony would have changed the outcome of the bill? I don't know if answering that question would have had any affect. That's a big what if. But I do believe the Office of the Governor purposefully withheld information from members of the legislative committee.

Jack, I've been in the firearms business for three decades now and have witnessed a lot happen, come, and go in the way of laws and regulations from the federal, state, and local levels. I also know the politics of goobment job positions and MSP particularly. That episode of you being ordered "from the top" not to respond to the question at hand was an outrage, not on your behalf, but on the behalf of our (biting my lip as I type the following phrase) "wonderfully fair and impartial" state leadership. The current "leadership" of this state has crossed the negative threshold and entered into the realm of self destructiveness by accepting, implementing, and furthering the "liberal progressive agenda" by twisting, distorting and/or covering up the facts and subsequently spewing forth false information, some of which is just outright lies. I certainly hope you can help with our cause, not only on 2A matters, but also other matters to bring Maryland back to a "free state", free from gubment tyranny. If I haven't said this in my earlier post, welcome aboard Jack.

 

[Mr Bear]

Welcome Jack. I look forward to learning from your years of experience.

I've always felt the Gov's office put you in an extremely awkward position. Sure, speak the truth/be the rebel & possibly lose your job. You did the honorable thing. We knew what was going on, but unfortunately, the masses didn't have a clue.

We need voices like yours.

 

[Brooklyn]

Jack.. nothing would have changed in 2013. Nothing.

But now you can speak and that has already made a difference.

Welcome to the fight to save Maryland...well the public part of that fight,anyway.

 

[Jim12]

I'd like to ask a favor of everyone...

Can we PLEASE stop calling it "SB281"??

That was good in 2013, but in 2014 that was the number of something completely different, and next year something else entirely.

At this point, it's the Firearms Safety Act of 2013. So FSA2013 or FSA13 is more accurate.

That's like calling Obamacare the "Affordable Care Act."

I'm not into supporting the legitimization of fraudulent, self-serving names of nonsensical legislation that has nothing to do with its name.

 

[fabsroman]

I'd like to ask a favor of everyone...

Can we PLEASE stop calling it "SB281"??

That was good in 2013, but in 2014 that was the number of something completely different, and next year something else entirely.

At this point, it's the Firearms Safety Act of 2013. So FSA2013 or FSA13 is more accurate.

I completely understand what you are saying and understand that there is probably a new SB281 introduced in the General Assembly every year. Thing is, I think everybody here knows what SB281 refers to when somebody uses it, unless there is some other horrendous gun bill in the future also titled SB281.

 

[MJD438]

I completely understand what you are saying and understand that there is probably a new SB281 introduced in the General Assembly every year. Thing is, I think everybody here knows what SB281 refers to when somebody uses it, unless there is some other horrendous gun bill in the future also titled SB281.

Fabs - most folks here know it; the problem comes when trying to educate the public or deal with the General Assembly. The former don't know what the term means, while the latter use the convenient excuse of looking at the current SB281 and automatically discounting the opinions/comments (witnessed this happening too many times to count while working at the MGA this session).

 

[Jim12]

Politicians intentionally name bills to lend credibility and good feelings to their often-misplaced efforts. When we adopt the Left's language, we lend credibility to them. This has been going on for a long, long time.

At a very minimum, whenever that "Act" is referred to, it should be the prefaced with "so-called," "mis-named," "anything but," or the like Firearms Safety Act, in quotation marks, or otherwise shown to be misleading or ill-conceived in its title and content. You will thus signal your disapproval and possibly start a conversation about it. Not as dramatic as a sign-toting, hazmat suited R&R in front of the White House, but we can't all be rock stars.

 

[ShallNotInfringe]

Politicians intentionally name bills to lend credibility and good feelings to their often-misplaced efforts. When we adopt the Left's language, we lend credibility to them. This has been going on for a long, long time. At a very minimum, whenever that "Act" is referred to, it should be the prefaced with "so-called," "mis-named," "anything but," or the like Firearms Safety Act, in quotation marks, or otherwise shown to be misleading or ill-conceived in its title and content. You will thus signal your disapproval and possibly start a conversation about it. Not as dramatic as a sign-toting, hazmat suited R&R in front of the White House, but we can't all be rock stars.

I kinda like Sling's inadvertent renaming of it to the "Firearm Shitsandwich Act of 2013"

Mr H does have a point though. When I was down in Annapolis on opening day of session last year and inquiries made as to the purpose of my presence, I mentioned "SB281" and it was met with quizzical expressions, as soon as I restated it as the "Firearm Safety Act", people knew what I was referring to.

Yes, in fact, there was a new "SB281" last year and is every year.

 

[Inigoes]

Question: Are the applications for hunting licenses through the DNR being used by MSP to find disqualified firearms owners, since the DNR now requires a SSN# for the hunting licenses?

I hope I worded that right....

Rob

Convicted felons may hunt. Hunting and prohibited persons are apples and oranges.

Prohibited persons can use either bow or muzzloaders (considered antiques, not firearms). MD DNR has airguns for prohibited persons to take hunter education.

Some of the modern muzzloaders are scary accurate.

 

[nedsurf]

Welcome and thank you for your service sir, both in uniform and after the uniform. I look forward to reading more about your professional insight. I will follow up with what information is being collected with the gun center.

 

[Jim12]

I kinda like Sling's inadvertent renaming of it to the "Firearm Shitsandwich Act of 2013"

Mr H does have a point though. When I was down in Annapolis on opening day of session last year and inquiries made as to the purpose of my presence, I mentioned "SB281" and it was met with quizzical expressions, as soon as I restated it as the "Firearm Safety Act", people knew what I was referring to.

Yes, in fact, there was a new "SB281" last year and is every year.

Yes, of course there will be a new SB281 every year. But nothing like THAT one.

They were probably just playing dumb. Or, if not, you could have met their quizzical expressions with a reminder, "You know, the Firearm Shitsandwich Act of 2013, that brought 4,000 opponents out in Annapolis, compared to four for the proponents, was passed by use of fraud and suppression of the truth, that has nothing to do with firearms safety or crime prevention, and will be long remembered by many of us as SB281." Rub it in.

 

[teratos]

Many of the proponents of the Firearm Suppression Act of 2013 were paid to be there, too.

It's funny, if you look at editorials on this topic, the people that write in favor of gun control are people like Vinnie Demarco (paid). The people that show up to protest "gun violence" are folks like Moms Demand Action (funded by Bloomberg). They can't get anyone out without some money being spent somewhere.

The people who write editorials against more gun control are people like Captain McCauley. He does it on his own time and his own dime. The folks who protest gun control are people like you and me. Again, our own time and our own dime. In fact. It costs most of us money to go to Annapolis, since we have to take time off work, drive, park, eat etc. I think it is very telling.

We (the 2A community) should own the gun violence and gun safety arguments. We should own the term "common sense gun laws", because if any of the gun laws in Maryland had a shred of common sense injected into them, the landscape would be a dramatically different one. I would like to see us own those arguments. It would inject confusion into the other side and likely get the attention of people on the fence.

 

[fabsroman]

Fabs - most folks here know it; the problem comes when trying to educate the public or deal with the General Assembly. The former don't know what the term means, while the latter use the convenient excuse of looking at the current SB281 and automatically discounting the opinions/comments (witnessed this happening too many times to count while working at the MGA this session).

When I discuss it with other folks, I just call it "Do you know about the gun control law that was passed last year?"

Most people have no clue what SB281 or FSA2013 even refers to, much less what it did.

 

[Tomcat]

Many of the proponents of the Firearm Suppression Act of 2013 were paid to be there, too.

It's funny, if you look at editorials on this topic, the people that write in favor of gun control are people like Vinnie Demarco (paid). The people that show up to protest "gun violence" are folks like Moms Demand Action (funded by Bloomberg). They can't get anyone out without some money being spent somewhere.

The people who write editorials against more gun control are people like Captain McCauley. He does it on his own time and his own dime. The folks who protest gun control are people like you and me. Again, our own time and our own dime. In fact. It costs most of us money to go to Annapolis, since we have to take time off work, drive, park, eat etc. I think it is very telling.

We (the 2A community) should own the gun violence and gun safety arguments. We should own the term "common sense gun laws", because if any of the gun laws in Maryland had a shred of common sense injected into them, the landscape would be a dramatically different one. I would like to see us own those arguments. It would inject confusion into the other side and likely get the attention of people on the fence.

I wanted to quote this because it makes so much sense, thank you sir.

 

[Tomcat]

I do not take offense to the question.......

Here is a very good article I found relating what happened last year for those of you who weren't there or remember. http://watchdogwire.com/maryland/2014/05/26/omalley-admin-ordered-md-state-police-commander-not-to-answer-gun-bill-questions/

 

[Lou45]

Convicted felons may hunt. Hunting and prohibited persons are apples and oranges.

Prohibited persons can use either bow or muzzloaders (considered antiques, not firearms). MD DNR has airguns for prohibited persons to take hunter education.

Some of the modern muzzloaders are scary accurate.

I've seen many episodes of those guys "down south" in the bayou "gator huntin' an' chootin' gators" (forget what the show is called). There were at least two episodes where at least one "gator hunter" was using a black powder cap 'n ball revolver and another using a smoke pole (black powder muzzleloader rifle). The very first thing that came to my mind when I saw those two persons and type of firearm being used by them was the phrase "prohibited by state and/or federal law".

Many of the proponents of the Firearm Suppression Act of 2013 were paid to be there, too.

It's funny, if you look at editorials on this topic, the people that write in favor of gun control are people like Vinnie Demarco (paid). The people that show up to protest "gun violence" are folks like Moms Demand Action (funded by Bloomberg). They can't get anyone out without some money being spent somewhere.

The people who write editorials against more gun control are people like Captain McCauley. He does it on his own time and his own dime. The folks who protest gun control are people like you and me. Again, our own time and our own dime. In fact. It costs most of us money to go to Annapolis, since we have to take time off work, drive, park, eat etc. I think it is very telling.

We (the 2A community) should own the gun violence and gun safety arguments. We should own the term "common sense gun laws", because if any of the gun laws in Maryland had a shred of common sense injected into them, the landscape would be a dramatically different one. I would like to see us own those arguments. It would inject confusion into the other side and likely get the attention of people on the fence.

I've been in Annapolis during senate and house gun bill hearings many times and many different years in the past when our 2A rights were on the line in this state, notably the session of 2004 when Leah Barrett, or whatever her real name is, was leading the charge to get Maryland GA to pass a state version of the Clitton (misspell on purpose) federal 10 year ban on the misleading nomenclature of the so-called "ass-halt rifle ban". Back then, when a person approached the podium to make their testimony, a question was asked by the panel of every person to the liking of, "Who are you representing and are you being paid or compensated in any way to be here and testify today?". The anti-gun crowd was somewhere in the 80% to 90% range of those being $$$ (financially) compensated in one means or another. On the other side of the spectrum (our side), those that were receiving some sort of $$$ compensation was drastically less than 10%, my realistic estimation would be in the 1%, perhaps as high, but unlikely so, a maximum of 2%. G, I don't know how long you've been around the 2A community in Maryland and also an active proponent fighting for our rights, but believe me, your statement regarding those being $$$ compensated versing those not being compensated (on their own dime) with regard to pro and anti 2A is nothing new. If you've been around this 2A freedom patriot type for many years, you know what I mean and this is not directed at you but to those that may be fairly new to the political and 2A world as we know it here in Maryland.