State of Maryland Continues It's Assault on Gun Owners

The following is from an email just received from Maryland Shall Issue - www.marylandshallissue.org - a gun owners rights group.  Liberal anti-gun activists in the Maryland Legislature have been unrelenting in their assault on the legal gun owners of Maryland. This is a call to arms for Maryland gun owners and anyone who loves liberty and respects the Constitution.

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Maryland General Assembly Introduces Gun Safety Act of 2010 

- Or the Scarlet G for Gunowner Bill of 2010

Senator Brian Frosh (D), District 16 Montgomery County and Chairman of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, and Delegate Sandy Rosenberg (D), District 41, Baltimore City have introduced the Gun Safety Act of 2010.

This proposed legislation would fundamentally change the face of gun ownership in the State of Maryland as no bill has in the last 10 years.

Now that the text of the bills have been released, we can give you our full response.

HB820

SB645 

Highlights :

1. An individual with more than one DUI conviction may not purchase a firearm within 5 years after an alcohol-related conviction.

2. Maryland State Police shall inspect each state-licensed gun dealer at least once every two years to ensure compliance with gun law.  Cost of inspection shall be covered by licensing fees, which may be increased as necessary.

3. Gun dealers shall provide records of their inventories and sales to aid State Police inspectors.  

The records shall include: 
(I) the name and address of each person from whom the dealer acquires a firearm and to whom the dealer sells or otherwise disposes of the firearm;  
(II) a precise description including the make, model, caliber, and serial number of each firearm acquired; and 
(III) the date of each acquisition, sale, or other disposition.

4. Law enforcement officials may use body-wires to collect evidence against gun traffickers and would be traffickers.

5. Penalties for illegal sale or transfer of firearms increased from 1 year, $1,000 to 5 years, $10,000.

6. Ignorance of the requirements to conduct background checks of firearm purchasers shall not be a defense for individuals charged with illegally selling guns.

7. Individuals buying handguns shall secure a handgun purchasing license before acquiring a handgun.  Licenses may be issued by local police or Maryland State Police.  Police shall secure fingerprints, verify IDs, and conduct background checks.  Licensing fees shall be set at a level to cover costs.

(the following is paraphrased in places)

(A) A regulated firearms dealer or person may only sell or transfer a handgun to another person if the purchaser or transferee presents to the seller or transferror a valid Maryland driver's license with an approved handgun
      purchase designation or photographic identification card with an approved handgun purchase designation issued to the purchaser or transferee by the Motor Vehicle Administration.

(B) A person may only purchase or receive a handgun if the person:
(1) Possesses a valid Maryland driver's license or state issued ID as outlined in (A).

(C) The MVA shall issue a driver's license with an approved handgun purchase designation or photographic ID with an approved handgun purchase designation.

(D) In order to obtain the required driver's license designation or state issued ID card an applicant must submit the following to a state or local law enforcement agency.

(1) A completed application on a form provided by the Secretary (of the Maryland State Police)
(2) A non-refundable fee set by the Secretary
(3) Proof of satisfactory completion of a firearms safety training course approved by the Secretary
(4) A complete set of the applicant's legible fingerprints to be taken by a state or local law enforcement agency
(5) Any other identification or documentation required by the secretary
(6) A statement made by the applicant under the penalty of perjury that the applicant is not prohibited under federal or state law from possessing a handgun

(G) Provides for the revocation of the handgun approval designation and the surrender of the driver's license or state issued photographic ID if the Secretary determines that the licensee no longer meets the qualifications set forth in the rest of the bill.

8. Felons illegally possessing any firearms shall be subject to a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

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Our analysis, corresponds to items under "Highlights"above:

1. The penalties for the DUI convictions are not usually as harsh as the 5-year prohibition on firearms ownership proposed by this bill. 

2.  An obvious ploy to drive up dealer costs and force them to bear the financial burden for a new level of bureaucracy in the hopes of bankrupting them.  The open-ended fees are blatantly punitive.  This provision of the bill will also create opportunities to revoke or suspend dealers' licenses for minor record keeping errors.

3. Obtaining dealers' records of sales will allow the Maryland State Police to create de facto registration lists of all firearms sold in Maryland.  They can then start cross referencing your purchases of ammunition and gun supplies against their registration list and use them to continue their midnight raids.  We saw this with the ammunition logs in the past that we have all but eliminated.  There's no indication that they will not continue to abuse their power with this either.  The Maryland State Police has demonstrated that they can not be trusted with this sort of power.

4. "Would-be traffickers".  That is you.  In their eyes, every gun owner in this state is a "would-be" trafficker.  Do you relish the thought of there being state agents tapping your gun club meetings, gun shops and shooting ranges?  This will give them basically unlimited license to use a wire to record your conversations if you fit their definition of a "would-be" trafficker.  The section of Maryland code where this provision is contained lumps us in with murderers, rapists, sex offenders, pornographers and kidnappers.  Furthermore, let's also not forget that the Maryland State Police has already been implicated in illegal surveillance of peace activists and death penalty opponents.

5. This sounds great, except that provision #6 above would lump the citizen who accidentally runs afoul of the law in with the hardened criminal who deliberately seeks to circumvent the law.  Case in point:  A person moves to Maryland from another state where face to face sales of all firearms are permitted and decides to sell part of their lawfully purchased handgun or Maryland regulated long gun collection after moving here.  This person, unaware of our convoluted laws, now faces 5 years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine just as a person actively engaged in the deliberately illegal sale of guns would be. While ignorance of the law is never an absolute defense, this provision would seemingly prohibit it from even being used as a mitigating factor in a defense.

6. See preceding comment.

7. This is the nuclear option in this bill.  It essentially brands all purchasers of handguns (and we would presume regulated long guns) with a Scarlet G for Gun Owner on their drivers license.  You will have to jump through an entirely new set of hoops just to be approved for jumping through the hoops that we already have to navigate in order to purchase a handgun.  We would expect this to also be applied to regulated long guns.

Where to start on this aspect of the bill?  

This is proposing that anyone wishing to purchase a handgun actually have a designation added to their driver's license that labels them as being licensed to purchase that firearm.  This means that you have essentially been branded for being a gun owner.  

This should be an outrageous affront to any civil liberty minded citizen even aside from the gun issue.  

There have been numerous times in the history of the world where citizens have been singled-out for what they thought, what they believed, what God they prayed to or didn't pray to, or who they associated with and it has never ended well.  Whether it be a yellow star, a tattoo or a special designation on a government-issued ID, governments have time and time again demonstrated that they simply can not be trusted when it comes to singling out designated undesirables from the general population.

All rhetoric aside, this bill is fraught with pragmatic dangers for the gun owners of Maryland as it increases not only the bureaucratic difficulties of lawfully purchasing a handgun, but also increases the financial burden for these citizens. How many Maryland Families will be deprived of their right to protect themselves because they do not possess the means to meet this new financial burden?

In response to item (D) above, we raise the following specific concerns:

Section D will be a de facto handgun ban for huge swaths of the Maryland population. The Maryland State Police are only accepting fingerprints done on the LiveScan system that can, with one exception in Baltimore, only be done at a few privately-owned locations across the state. Citizens without the means to access one of those locations, either due to geographic distance, financial hardship, disability or a combination of the above would be out of luck. Not clearly defining either the forms required or the costs associated with the applications gives the Secretary free reign to make the process as expensive as possible and gives the Secretary unlimited power to dissect our personal lives as they see fit

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Commentary:

The Scarlet G for Gun Owner aspect of the bill alone, if passed, would most likely bring about a landmark lawsuit against the State of Maryland because of the blatant effort to create so much financial and administrative hardship for citizens to exercise a Constitutional right that it equates with a government led effort to ban the individual possession of handguns.  Per the usual modus operandi of the anti-gun wing of the Maryland General Assembly, we can expect that they will expand this to first include all firearms and then all ammunition.

In a time of an unprecedented financial crisis for governments and citizens alike, Senator Frosh is proposing a monstrous addition to the Maryland State Police's workload and then asking cash strapped citizens to back it so that they can be granted the privilege of exercising a fundamental right.  In addition, such a law, if passed, would certainly be challenged in court, forcing the state to spend even more of its limited resources trying to defend indefensible regulations.  Given that Senator Frosh is rumored to have his eye on the Senate Presidency, we have to question the judgment of an elected official who ignores the budgetary exigencies of both the State and citizenry in the name advancing a personal radical anti-gun agenda.  

We must unleash a response to this abomination unlike any in the history of our community.  The damage resulting from the passage of this bill will set back our efforts for decades.  We must flood their emails, their snail mail boxes, their fax machines and shut down their phone service.  MSI can only provide you with the information and the tools that you need to stop this.  It is up to each of us as individuals to take the fight to them and stop this before it ever gets heard in committee.  

Snail mail letters are best and can easily be done with the  Activist's Tools.

Phone calls are good.

Emails are easy and a good follow up to the above actions.

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Here's what we need you to do :

•Contact your Senator and let them know that you oppose SB645.

•Contact the members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and let them know that you oppose SB645.

•Contact your delegates and let them know that you oppose HB820.

•Contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee and let them know that you oppose HB820.

•Contact the press.  Here is one resource.

•All of the information you need in order to easily make mail contacts can be found in the Activist's Tools below.

•Remember to stick to the facts when making your contacts.  Avoid over emotional rhetoric that only fuels their stereotypes of our community.

Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Phone Numbers

Brian Frosh - Chair
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3124 (toll free)

Lisa Gladden - Vice Chair
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3697 (toll free)

Jim Brochin 
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3648 (toll free)

Jennie Forehand
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3134 (toll free)

Larry Haines
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3683 (toll free)

Nancy Jacobs
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3158 (toll free)

Alex Mooney
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3575 (toll free)

Anthony Muse
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3092 (toll free)
Jamie Raskin
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3634 (toll free)

Bryan Simonaire
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3658 (toll free)

Norman Stone
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3587 (toll free)

House Judiciary Committee Phone Numbers

Delegate Joseph Vallario - Chairman (D-27A)

(410) 841-3488,

Delegate Sandy Rosenberg - Co-Chair (D-41) Lead sponsor of HB820

(410) 841-3297

Delegate Curtis Anderson (D-43)

(410) 841-3291

Delegate Benjamin Barnes (D-21)
(410) 841-3046

Delegate Jill Carter (D-41)
(410) 841-3283

Delegate Frank Conaway Jr. (D-40)
(410) 841-3189

Delegate Kathleen   Dumais    (D-15)
(410) 841-3052

Delegate Don Dwyer Jr. (D-31)
(410) 841-3047

Delegate William Frank (R-42)
(410) 841-3793

Delegate J.B. Jennings (R-7)
(410) 841-3698

Delegate Kevin Kelly (D-1B)
(410) 841-3404

Delegate Benjamin Kramer (D-19)
(410) 841-3485

Delegate Susan Lee (D-16)
(410) 841-3649

Delegate Gerron Levi (D-23A)
(410) 841-3101

Delegate Susan McComas (R-35B)
(410) 841-3272

Delegate Tony McConkey (R-33A)
(410) 841-3406

Delegate Victor Ramirez (D-47)
(410) 841-3340

Delegate Todd Schuler (D-8)
(410) 841-3526

Delegate Luiz Simmons (D-17)
(410) 841-3037

Delegate Michael Smigiel Sr. (R-36)
(410) 841-3555

Delegate Kriselda Valderrama (D-26)
(410) 841-3210

Delegate Jeffrey Waldstreicher (D-18)
(410) 841-3130  

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Activist's Tools

 

HOUSE OF DELEGATES TOOLS TO ASSIST YOU:

•Quick email tool

•Find your delegate

•Pre-formatted mailing labels for the House Judiciary Committee

•How to create mail merge letters using pre-formatted labels

SENATE TOOLS TO ASSIST YOU:

•Quick email tool 

•Find your senator

•Pre-formatted mailing labels for the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee

•How to create mail merge letters using pre-formatted labels

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Maryland Shall Issue.org

P.O. Box 314

Libertytown, MD

21762-0314

ph. 240-446-6782

Mission Statement

"Maryland Shall Issue is an all volunteer, non-partisan effort dedicated to the preservation and advancement of all gunowners' rights in Maryland, with a primary goal of CCW reform to allow all law-abiding citizens the right to carry a concealed weapon; and to the education of the community to the awareness that 'shall issue' laws have, in all cases, resulted in decreased rates of violent crime."

Chicago Politics at work in Washington - Followup to Reuters Retraction

It looks like Chicago political thuggery is flourishing in it's new digs at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Remember the Reuters story from Monday that was pulled 4 hours later after a complaint from the White House? The one that talked of all BHO's backdoor tax increases? It seems the reporter, Terri Cullen, has left the employ of Reuters - no details given.  Below is a story in Sunday's NY Times "Media Decoder".  Watch your back, Ms. Cullen.

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February 5, 2010, 6:37 pm

Journalist Whose Article Was Retracted Leaves Reuters

By RICHARD PéREZ-PEñA

The journalist who wrote an article on Monday that turned into an embarrassment for Reuters and a cause for some conservatives has left the wire service, the company said Friday. A Reuters spokeswoman declined to say whether the journalist, Terri Cullen, left voluntarily, or why. “I can’t really go into any detail,” said the spokeswoman, Courtney Dolan.
Ms. Cullen stepped down less than a month after being hired for the newly created position of wealth management editor. She had worked for more than a decade for The Wall Street Journal Online.
Her article said that President Obama’s budget amounted to a backdoor tax increase for middle-income and even lower-income people, based largely on the scheduled expiration of income tax cuts passed in 2001. But the president had actually proposed keeping those cuts in place for all but high-income families.
After a complaint from the White House, Reuters withdrew the article, stating that it was inaccurate. But by then, some prominent conservatives had seized on the article, and a few — notably Rush Limbaugh — insisted that the retraction meant simply that the media were protecting the president.

The Detestable Peace Sign

People still flash it to this day, this icon of 60's/70's anti-war hippie lore. It was stolen from Churchill and bastardized. Sir Winston Churchill flashed it all across war torn Britian, London in particular, as "V" for victory, a rallying cry against Nazi Germany. Now there's a true leader, a giant among history's greatest leaders.

Bastardized - by the radicals of yesteryear, many who are, unfortunately, our political leaders of today or deeply entrenched in the vast bureaucracy that is destroying our Great Nation from within - bastardized into the "Peace Sign". Typical leftist ploy - "I just want peace, man... how can you be against peace?" Just like "the children", or "clean air and water". This would be bad enough, but it's much worse.

The peace sign IS the icon of the radical left of the Vietnam Era and those who followed them - those who cheered their megaphone chants of "Hell No, We Won't Go", who joined their marches, protests and sit-ins for whatever reasons, be they true believers, just wanted to be cool, or trying to cash in on some of that "free love".  The peace sign IS the icon of those who spit on our military when they returned from battle, who called them baby killers. I find it to be the ultimate symbol of disrespect to the 58,156 brave Americans who paid the ultimate price, the 303,704 who were wounded, and the over 9 million who served during the Vietnam Era. That's what it really means to me, and always will.

New Maryland Assault Weapons Ban introduced

Yesterday, Senator Mike Lennett (D), District 19, Montgomery County, has introduced SB516, the Maryland Assault Weapons Ban of 2010. The following is the response of Maryland Shall Issue, a grassroots 2nd Amendment group, of which I am a member.  I encourage you to join or support their efforts in any way possible.  Their contact info can be found at the end.

Molon Labe!!



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Why should you care?


Even if you do not own an AR15 or anotherf irearm specifically threatened by SB516, the reality is that this is merely the first stage of the process of outlawing the possession of all guns in the state of Maryland. We’ve witnessed this sort of divide and conquer strategy before and we need to continue to show them that Maryland gun owners stick together. Maryland legislators and anti-gun lobbyists have adequately demonstrated that they will not stop until they have done away with all gun ownership here. They have already shutdown the National Capital Trap and Skeet Club for bogus claims of environmental impact and have attacked other ranges for trumped up noise and safety violations. Now they are going to try to divide us as they ban classes of firearms one by one. There are 65-80 million gun owners in the United States, making us one of the largest voting blocks in the country. They know that they can not usurp our rights in an outright, all inclusive ban, so they are seeking to fracture us and destroy us little by little. We must support all firearm rights, regardless of our chosen discipline or they will fall, one by one.
 
What can you do?


Get involved! Remember: The decisions that affect all of us are made by the few that show up!

1. Write letters and make calls to your state senators and delegates and let them know that you oppose all antigun legislation which punishes law abiding citizens who are already purchasing their guns lawfully. You can find your legislator at:
http://mdelect.net/electedofficials

2. Contact the sponsors of SB516 and let them know that you oppose the bill:
http://mlis.state.md.us/2010rs/billfile/SB0516.htm

3. Educate yourself on the ongoing efforts to infringe on your 2nd amendment rights.

4. Sign up for the MSI email alerts at marylandshallissue.org
 
Lie #1: The AWB Won’t Affect “Sporting Guns”

The sponsors of  SB516, The Maryland Assault Weapons Ban of 2010, would lead ou to believe that the firearms covered by the proposed legislation are somehow different than those guns used for sporting
purposes such as hunting and target shooting. This is the favorite technique of the anti-gun members of the General Assembly and the anti-gun professional lobbyists that prop them up. This BIG LIE technique assumes that if they repeat the lie enough times it will start to sound like the truth and will drive a wedge between Maryland gun owners. The old axiom of “we must hang together or we will surely hang separately” has never been more true than right now.  Once they establish that assault weapons are banned in the state, they only need to expand the definition of an assault weapon to add other firearms to the prohibited list.

Lie #2: AR15s have no sporting purpose

That’s what they would like you to believe. The AR15 is the #1 firearm used for rifle target competitions ranging from local NRA matches to the world class Civilian Marksmanship Program matches held at Camp
Perry. The .223 Remington cartridge fired by the AR15 is permissible in some areas to be used on game as large as deer.

Lie #3: Assault weapons are machine guns:

Another example of the BIG LIE technique. The firearms covered by SB516 are semiautomatic firearms, not machine guns. They fire one cartridge for every pull of the trigger just like all non-machine guns such as sporting arms. Machine guns are regulated heavily by legislation in existence since 1934 and 1986 and are not affected by this bill.

Lie #4: SB516 only affects AR15s  and other “Evil Black Rifles”

The text of part of SB516 now says assault weapon...not rifle....and defines an assault weapon as, “the ability to accept a detachable magazine” and any of a number of cosmetic features that have nothing to do with the function or power of the firearm. Attorney General Gansler, a Ceasefire MD advisory board member, will take the strictest interpretation of the law to limit your access to many firearms in addition to the AR15.

Facts 1 and 2: “1 in 5” and “Blood in the Streets”

Despite the cries of “1 in 5” police officers killed with assault weapons and “blood in the streets” since the lapse of the 1994 Federal AWB, neither of these occurred. The FACT is that not one Maryland police officer was shot and killed by a rifle of any kind in the period 1980-2009. The other FACT is that in the year 2000 rifles accounted for only 3% of homicides in Maryland. The number of “assault weapons” in that 3% is even smaller.

Fact #3: The FBI does not trackthe use of assault weapons in crimes.

Supporters of the AWB will affirm that the FBI tracks the use of assault weapons in the Uniform Crime Report. The simple FACT is that they do not. The LIARS simply decide that any .223 Remington cartridge recovered from a crime scene must be from an AR15. Would recovering a .30’06 cartridge automatically
mean that it was from an M1 Garand?

Fact #4: The Maryland State Police has said that the AWB is a non-issue for them.

The Maryland State Police has previously testified that the possession of the sort of firearms named in this bill are not an issue that concerns their officers.

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contact:

Maryland Shall Issue.org
P.O. Box 314
Libertytown, MD 21762-0314
ph. 240-446-6782

http://www.marylandshallissue.org/
Mission Statement

"Maryland Shall Issue is an all volunteer, non-partisan effort dedicated to the preservation and advancement of all gunowners' rights in Maryland, with a primary goal of CCW reform to allow all law-abiding citizens the right to carry a concealed weapon; and to the education of the community to the awareness that 'shall issue' laws have, in all cases, resulted in decreased rates of violent crime."

Rahm must have sent them a dead fish!

This is the story by Reuters that was posted yesterday afternoon and pulled 4 hours later.  I found it still posted on Yahoo Canada.  I guess it had too much truth for the Statist Media.

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Backdoor taxes to hit middle class


Mon Feb 1, 4:09 PM
By Terri Cullen



NEW YORK (Reuters.com) --The Obama administration's plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade relies heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families.





In the 2010 budget tabled by President Barack Obama on Monday, the White House wants to let billions of dollars in tax breaks expire by the end of the year -- effectively a tax hike by stealth.





While the administration is focusing its proposal on eliminating tax breaks for individuals who earn $250,000 a year or more, middle-class families will face a slew of these backdoor increases.





The targeted tax provisions were enacted under the Bush administration's Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Among other things, the law lowered individual tax rates, slashed taxes on capital gains and dividends, and steadily scaled back the estate tax to zero in 2010.





If the provisions are allowed to expire on December 31, the top-tier personal income tax rate will rise to 39.6 percent from 35 percent. But lower-income families will pay more as well: the 25 percent tax bracket will revert back to 28 percent; the 28 percent bracket will increase to 31 percent; and the 33 percent bracket will increase to 36 percent. The special 10 percent bracket is eliminated.





Investors will pay more on their earnings next year as well, with the tax on dividends jumping to 39.6 percent from 15 percent and the capital-gains tax increasing to 20 percent from 15 percent. The estate tax is eliminated this year, but it will return in 2011 -- though there has been talk about reinstating the death tax sooner.





Millions of middle-class households already may be facing higher taxes in 2010 because Congress has failed to extend tax breaks that expired on January 1, most notably a "patch" that limited the impact of the alternative minimum tax. The AMT, initially designed to prevent the very rich from avoiding income taxes, was never indexed for inflation. Now the tax is affecting millions of middle-income households, but lawmakers have been reluctant to repeal it because it has become a key source of revenue.





Without annual legislation to renew the patch this year, the AMT could affect an estimated 25 million taxpayers with incomes as low as $33,750 (or $45,000 for joint filers). Even if the patch is extended to last year's levels, the tax will hit American families that can hardly be considered wealthy -- the AMT exemption for 2009 was $46,700 for singles and $70,950 for married couples filing jointly.





Middle-class families also will find fewer tax breaks available to them in 2010 if other popular tax provisions are allowed to expire. Among them:





* Taxpayers who itemize will lose the option to deduct state sales-tax payments instead of state and local income taxes;





* The $250 teacher tax credit for classroom supplies;





* The tax deduction for up to $4,000 of college tuition and expenses;





* Individuals who don't itemize will no longer be able to increase their standard deduction by up to $1,000 for property taxes paid;





* The first $2,400 of unemployment benefits are taxable, in 2009 that amount was tax-free.