When the lives of young children and teachers were tragically and needlessly cut short in Sandy Hook, many of us were hoping that they would not die in vain. We were hoping that finally the U.S. Congress would take some steps to decrease gun violence by enacting reasonable gun regulations. We watched because for the first time in a long time, it seemed that there might be some progress. However, several months later, we were disappointed. As had happened in the past, the NRA, with its army of lobbyists succeeded in killing the gun control legislation proposed.
Despite this disappointment, the victims of Sandy Hook did not die in vain. For today in Maryland, the Firearm Safety Act of 2013 went into effect. This Act
will ban magazines that hold more than 10 bullets and will ban 45 types of semiautomatic rifles, classifying them as assault weapons. It will also require those seeking to buy any gun other than a hunting rifle or shotgun to obtain a license, a process that will include submitting fingerprints to police, passing classroom and firing-range training and undergoing more extensive background checks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
The Firearm Safety Act of 2013 was not the first attempt to pass this type of legislation in Maryland. In 2010, a bill proposing an assault weapons ban in Maryland was withdrawn because there were not enough votes to get the bill out of committee. A local paper reported at the time:
ANNAPOLIS — The sponsor of a proposal to ban assault weapons withdrew his bill from the Maryland Senate this week, acknowledging the measure lacked enough support to get the legislation out of committee.
"I don't see wasting all the time and resources on it this year when I see it going nowhere," said Sen. Mike Lenett (D-Dist. 19) of Silver Spring.
The ban would need to first pass the 11-member Judicial Proceedings Committee, where two conservative Democrats and four Republicans would block its passage.
http://ww2.gazette.net/....
In 2007, an assault weapons ban bill was deadlocked in committee. At that time, The Baltimore Sun wrote
A Senate committee yesterday rejected a ban on assault weapons, effectively ending the proposal's chances for this General Assembly session.
The Judicial Proceedings Committee deadlocked 5-5 over the ban, which means the bill will likely not get a full vote on the Senate floor. With no corresponding legislation in the House of Delegates, that means the issue is almost certainly dead for the year.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/....
I suspect that the Firearm Safety Act of 2013 would have met a similar fate as these earlier efforts had the tragedy at Sandy Hook not happened. I think that Sandy Hook really convinced the Maryland legislature that stronger regulation of guns was needed.
The Firearm Safety Act of 2013 represents progress, even if that progress is limited to Maryland (and a few other states who also enacted gun control legislation this year). Change does not happen overnight. And I am glad that at least right now we appear to be headed in the right direction.
Hopefully it will not take another tragedy like Sandy Hook for the U.S. Congress to enact a federal assault weapons ban.