From the House Republican Caucus:
House Minority Leader Nic Kipke and House Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga issued the following statement in response to the Maryland State Police announcement that citizens could take possession of handguns without being subject to provisions of SB281 if they make their purchase before the October 1st effective date.
“Monday, September 30 is the newly approved deadline for Maryland citizens to purchase handguns and not be subjected to the restrictive Firearm Safety Act of 2013 passed earlier this year. We applaud the decision by the Maryland State Police to reverse their previous position that mandated possession of newly purchased firearm by the deadline.
Thanks to the poor planning and implementation of this convoluted legislation by the O’Malley/Brown Administration, the State Police has a huge backlog of applications, delaying the ability of citizens to pick-up their handguns before the October 1st deadline. The members of the House Republican Caucus, along with Second Amendment advocates, have been working to protect the Constitutional rights of Marylanders through this process and will continue to hold the Administration accountable. We continue to have serious concerns about who is processing the handgun owner applications and urge Governor O’Malley to immediately restrict processing of those applications to State Police personnel.”
The MSP says its ok, but the Attorney General has issued an opinion stating that the Handgun Qualification License is required for any pick-up after 1 Oct.
Do you want to gamble on the MSP being right and the AG wrong? Local jurisdictions have the ability to prosecute for state violations, so while prosecution might be unlikely in Harford County, if your gun dealer is in Baltimore City (for example), the state’s attorney there could decide to prosecute you for picking up the firearm without the HQL even though the MSP said it was ok. Would you want to put your fate in a he-said/she-said dispute (that you weren’t even a party to) before a jury?
Where was the House Republican Caucus when a hard working Marylander, well known by the members of the HRC, begged and pleaded for their help when she initiated a petition drive to delay and ultimately stop this new firearm registration? Crickets…..that seems to be the way the Republicans roll these days.
In a state where average Democrat voter turnout in an off-year election exceeds the number of registered Republicans, do you think a voter initiative would have a chance of success? The petition drive was wisely allowed to fail, plus the sooner the law takes effect, the sooner it can be challenged in court, not simply because it might be unpopular, but as a violation of fundamental civil rights.
Kharn, I must respectively disagree. In my opinion, we need to try alternatives to those plans dictated by the failed consultancy class and amoeba-esque elected employees. When a group represents a minority it’s always easy to follow the path of least resistance. Then turn around and say the plan wouldn’t have worked anyway because we don’t have the voting power. We’ve heard this tune, especially through the past two presidential election cycles. WE NEED FRESH FACES WITH NEW IDEAS!!
So I am a proud MD gun owner of multiple guns. I realize the way the 2nd amendment was written hundreds of years ago doesn’t mean any weapon (arm) is covered, how hard is that to realize. Do we all need nuclear weapons to say we are following the 2nd amendment. Grow up, we all don’t need ar-15’s, ak’s or other assault rifles to feel like a real man (maybe you do but I don’t).
I also understand restricting firearms won’t solve the problem, changing the way we look at violence and accept it in our media (movies, video games, etc) will only change that. I also understand no gun nut will even read this 2nd paragraph and will only attack me for the 1st so oh well.