Complex Permit to Purchase Bill Introduced in Maryland!

Please Contact Your State Legislators!  

Over the years, Maryland’s anti-gun politicians have shown their disdain for our Second Amendment rights by introducing numerous proposals to limits our freedoms.  This year Delegate Samuel Rosenberg (D-41) and State Senator Brian Frosh (D-16) have introduced legislation that would permanently alter the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun-owner’s in Maryland.

House Bill 820 and Senate Bill 645, deceptively titled as the “Firearms Safety Act of 2010,” are nothing more than the same old tired gun-control agenda pushed by the same sanctimonious politicians who believe you have no Second Amendment rights, unless Delegate Rosenberg and Senator Frosh grant them to you.  

House Bill 820 and Senate Bill 645 propose to convert handgun ownership from a Constitutionally-protected right into a privilege, to be granted by the State Police only at their arbitrary discretion.

First, the bill would require Marylanders to obtain, for a fee not specified by the bill, a handgun purchase permit before acquiring a handgun. Second, such a permit would be granted only upon “satisfactory completion" of an unspecified firearms safety training course approved by the State Police. And third, the bill would grant the State Police the arbitrary discretion to reject an application for a permit, claiming that the applicant has a “propensity for violence or instability.” House Bill 820 and Senate Bill 645’s scheme would result in the State Police maintaining records of Marylanders to whom purchase permits have been issued.

The bill also proposes a regulatory scheme designed to reduce the number of firearms dealers by creating a new layer of pointless bureaucratic requirements with which they would have to comply, and violations of which could be used as the grounds for revoking their licenses. For example, while dealers are already required under federal law to maintain records relating to the receipt and transfer of firearms, House Bill 820 and Senate Bill 645 propose that they be required to duplicate the same records on state forms.

Maryland is one of the best examples for the proposition that gun control does not reduce crime. Despite being one of the five or six states with the most heavy-handed gun control laws, Baltimore repeatedly is among the major U.S. cities with the highest murder rates.

Please contact your elected officials and strongly urge them to reject any government scheme that treats you like a criminal.  Contact information can be found here.