ASSOCIATED GUN CLUBS OF BALTIMORE, INC.
Legislative Email Report - May, 2012
P.O. BOX 20102 - TOWSON, MD 21284-0102
410-296-3947 Email: LVP@ASSOCIATEDGUNCLUBS.ORG
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2012 Session: After Action Report & Wrap-up
HB 618 Task Force to Study Access of Individuals with Mental Illness to Regulated Firearms
We were unsuccessful in our efforts directed toward stopping this bill and it became law on April 10, 2012, when HB 618 was signed by the Governor. During testimony, both this Association and Maryland Shall Issue pointed out that the composition of the proposed 12 member task force was already supersaturated with gun control advocates. As if to drive home the point, a representative of the Governor asked that 3 additional control groups be added. Needless to say, we took strong objection to wasting the taxpayer's dollars to produce a study, the results of which are a foregone conclusion. Delegate Simmons, HB 618's sponsor, employed the standard tactic for neutralizing opposition to a bill. He offered an amendment which removed the NRA representative (NRA took no position on HB 618) and substituted a representative from Maryland Shall Issue. A representative from the Associated Gun Clubs was also added. The 3 additional gun control advocates requested by the Governor were also added. The net result is a committee where the ratio went from 11 to 1 to 14 to 2. The sponsor succeeded in his effort to not only get his bill passed but now he hopes to he will be able to neutralize any criticism of the outcome by claiming that gun rights groups were included.
We have seen this dog and pony show before. This Association will monitor the activities of the Committee (these meetings are generally open to the public), but we will not make the mistake of participating.
SB 911 / HB 1321 Public Safety - Firearms Regulation by Local Jurisdictions
These crossfiled bills were the most dangerous of the entire 2012 Session. Paul Dembowski deserves much of the credit for this victory for it was he who took the point position leading the opposition when Anne Arundel County Executive Leopold forced legislation through the Anne Arundel County Council. This legislation was later determined to violate Maryland's preemption statute. Undeterred, Leopold attempted to have this legislation introduced in the Maryland General Assembly by members of the Anne Arundel County Delegation who wisely declined to do so. Never having seen a gun control bill he did not like, Senator Brian Frosh (D) of Montgomery County agreed to sponsor the legislation shunned by the Anne Arundel County Delegation in the Senate. Delegate Luis Simmons (D), also from Montgomery County, did the same in the house of Delegates. Due to the date of their introduction, these bills were sent to the Senate and House Rules Committees where quick passage to the Senate and House Judiciary committees was expected. Representative of AGC and Maryland Shall Issue met with Senate Rules Committee Chairman Kathy Klausmeier and made it very clear how dangerous it would be to allow local jurisdictions to pass local gun laws. AGC also met with Delegate Joseph Vallario who sits on the House Rules Committee.
The best victories are those that happen quickly and quietly. This victory was not quick but it certainly was quiet. For the first time in memory, crossfiled gun bills died in both Rules Committees. Thanks are also due to Senator Klausmeier and Delegate Joseph Vallario.
HB 579 - Public Safety - Regulated Firearms - Exemption From Training Course
Over the years, we have cautioned those new to Annapolis politics about the danger of introducing legislation which cannot be killed by our side if the bill is hijacked by the anti-gunners in the legislature. This warning often falls upon deaf ears or is simply dismissed out of hand. Senator Frosh's hijacking of HB 579 was a reminder to those who have forgotten the past.
In its original form, HB 579 was simply a "feel good" bill to please a small special interest group. It provided that law enforcement personnel were exempt from the requirement that they take the 30 minute on-line safety course in order to qualify to purchase a regulated firearm. It was an innocuous bill that AGC took no position on because at the time it filed there was no compelling reason to support or oppose the bill.
The landscape changed when the Federal District Court for Maryland handed down a decision in the Woollard case. The writing was on the wall that Maryland's "good and substantial" requirement would soon be a thing of the past. This was the section of Maryland law that the Maryland State Police had been misusing for over 40 years to deny permits to carry a concealed handgun to otherwise qualified law abiding citizens.
HB 579 was technically a gun bill, it had passed the House and was now in the clutches of Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chairman Brian Frosh. Rather than putting this bill in his desk drawer as would normally be the case, Senator Frosh seized the opportunity to attach a 4 page amendment to a 3 page bill. HB 579 passed out of Committee on a 6-5 late night on Thursday, April 5th, only 5 days before the end of the Session.
The Frosh amendment imposed a mandatory training requirement before a citizen could even apply for a permit to carry a concealed handgun and reiterated the good and substantial language in a different section of the law in what was probably an effort to circumvent the Woollard decision.
Early Friday morning AGC discovered that HB 579 was now a gun control bill and is was moving on the Senate floor. Quick responses to our request for a copy of the amendments to Senators Brochin and Jacobs enabled us to get the word out early Friday morning via the AGC's Legislative Email Network.
The response from gun owners was immediate and forceful. On the Senate floor, Senators Jennings, Pipkin and Reilly combined their efforts by offering amendments, floor debate and procedural motions to delay the progress. Over Senator Frosh's objections, they were successful in delaying any action until Monday, the final day of the 2012 Session.
Time was not on Senator Frosh's side and continued pressure from gun owners and the need to pass budget related legislation prevailed. HB 579 was "kicked to the curb" and died on the Senate floor when the Session adjourned "sine die" at midnight on Monday, April 9, 2012.
We won this battle but we did not win the war. Senator Frosh will no doubt try again next year.
Click here for the status of 2012 Session Bills: Guns, Weapons & Hunting
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AGC's Legislative Action Email System Overwhelmed by Gun Owners
Since its operational beginning on February 23, 2012, only 33 individuals had used the AGC's New Legislative Action Email system, sending approximately 12,000 emails over a 2 month time period.
When we sent out the call early Friday morning for opposition to to Senator Frosh's hijacking of Delegate Elliott's HB 579 we had no idea what was to come. We immediately began receiving emails users reporting that they were unable to log on to the system. By noon, our server had crashed several times because emails were being logged faster than they could be sent. We doubled the sending capacity on Friday but still could not keep up. Before the legislative session ended 3 days later at midnight on Monday, at total of 1,309 individuals used the system. The email queue was showing over 379,000 emails total, with over a quarter of a million still waiting to be sent.
We have since redesigned the way emails are process to eliminate the back-up problem and hopefully this will eliminate the problem in the future. See also, the article below on recent enhancements to the system base upon user suggestions.
Thank you for your support!
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Paul Dembowski Steps Down as Maryland Shall Issue's Legislative Director
Paul served 3 years on the Maryland Shall Issue (MSI) Executive Board, and 4 years as the President of MSI. Last fall, Paul turned the MSI Presidency and responsibility for MSI's day to day operations over to Patrick Shomo, in order to devote himself full time to the legislative effort and related activities.
It came as a total surprise when Paul quietly announced that not only had he stepped down as MSI's Legislative Director, but that he was no longer affiliated with MSI.Paul's professional manner, political savvy, keen ability to read the political "tea leaves" combined with his knack for strategic political planning, made him an asset to MSI and gun owners across the State. His knowledge and experience will be sorely missed in the gun rights battles yet to be fought.
To paraphrase General Robert E. Lee: "I don't know anyone who could have done a better job, and I don't know anyone who could have done as good a job."
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Annual Machine Gun Registration - May 2012
It is that time of year again. Maryland law requires that all machine guns must be registered with the Maryland State Police during May of each year. A $10 filing tax is required with your form(s).
As usual, the MSP mailed poor quality, crooked photocopies of the annual registration form.
A good quality PDF of the registration form is "available" on the MSP website. Unfortunately, it is also LAST YEAR'S blank form. It also does not contain "fillable" fields, nor can it be saved or printed with your information included. The user must print the form and then hand write the information. The AGC has produced an annual registration form for 2012 that is in Adobe Reader friendly format. The link to this form can also be found on the Legislative News page of the AGC's Website.
The "AGC Version" of the form not only has "fillable" fields, it can also be saved and printed with your information included. If MSP does not revise the form, and nothing in you inventory has changed, you can simply change the dates and use the form next year.
Click here for the "AGC Version" of the Annual Machine Gun Registration Form.
REMEMBER TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL COPIES OF YOUR FORM(S) AND REQUEST THAT THE ADDITIONAL COPIES BE RETURNED TO YOU FOR YOUR RECORDS, AND AS PROOF OF ANNUAL REGISTRATION.
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District Court Ruling Woollard Case - Maryland Law Remains Unchanged
The District Court for Maryland released a draft order dated March 29, 2012, which indicated the intent of Judge Legg to enjoin the State's enforcement of the "Good and Substantial Reason Requirement" for a handgun carry permit. However, Judge Legg put a stay on his own order pending briefing and ruling on the State's motion for a stay pending an appeal by the State.
The State of Maryland has filed an appeal notice with the 4th Circuit Court in Richmond. It is probable that regardless of which way the 4th Circuit Court rules, the decision will be appealed and this case may ultimately be decided in the U. S. Supreme Court.
Following the Woollard in the U.S. District Court of Maryland, the Maryland State Police (MSP) reportedly received 365 concealed handgun carry permit applications during the month of March. These applications are being returned with a cover letter explaining that the application is being returned with the filing fee rather that process the application and then denying it for lack of a "good and substantial" reason.
The cover letter states that applicants may wish to wait to reapply after the decision of the appellate court. This alone seems to hint that the MSP knows it isgoing to lose in the courts and it is only a matter of time.
This posture indicates that a number of factors are potentially in play:
- MSP doesn't want to increase the number of potential "plaintiffs" in future legal actions
- MSP apparently believes that returning the applications is different than a denial but fails to realize that refusing to accept and process an application is, in and of itself, a denial of due process
- MSP cannot by law refund permit application fees, so by refusing to accept and deposit the fees. MSP saves itself some paperwork
- MSP's return letter is clear admission that MSP is using the undefined "good and substantial" clause to arbitrarily deny carry permits to law-abiding citizens
In the simplest terms, nothing as changed in the current Maryland law and nothing will change in the policies of the MSP licensing division until this case is finally concluded in the courts.
It is important to keep in mind that fingerprints taken for licensing purposes are only valid for 30 days. Persons who filed permit applications may have their application fees returned but they will not recover the cost of having to pay for an updated set of scanned fingerprints. Applicant beware!
Click here for the MSP form letter which accompanies returned applications.
Click here for the portfolio of court filings & documents in PDF.
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Maryland State Police Criticize Courts That Support the U.S. Constitution
In response to the recent court ruling on the collection of DNA, the Maryland State Police issued a press release entitled "Making Maryland Safer With The Appropriate Use of DNA" which was critical of the Courts. It seems that "Maryland Finest" are now openly showing themselves as the highly political law enforcement arm of the O'Malley administration.
The person at the focus of this case is certainly not a person whose actions we could ever defend. However, the Constitution must apply to all, or it applies to none.
What Colonel Brown fails to realize is that the use of DNA in the narrow focus of the Courts' decision was deemed unconstitutional and thus inappropriate.
When courts fail to recognize the need of our people to be protected in a fair and just manner, we go backwards, not forwards. That is something we cannot afford to do, given our responsibility to protect human life. Colonel Marcus Brown, Secretary, Maryland State Police Click here for the entire press release.
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| ATF's Top 10 Frequently Asked Firearms Questions and Answers
ATF receives numerous telephone and electronic inquiries on a daily basis. In an effort to provide individuals with the most up-to-date information, ATF has compiled a list of the top 10 most frequently asked questions and provided answers to those questions:
Top 10 Frequently Asked Firearms Questions and Answers
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Recent Enhancements - AGC Political Action Email System
We built this system as a "force multiplier" to enable you to send more emails to your elected representatives in far less time, thus exerting more pressure on the members of the Maryland General Assembly.
New Enhancements Since the System's Debut:
- A spell check function has been added (ABC icon next to the email message text box)
- "Return to email" icon changed in the preview function for clarity.
- Email send button is now on the email preview page.
- System now clearly indicates the successful sending of your email.
The system is simple to use, and we have provided a list of answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) including advice on how to write an email to legislators, as well as some valuable tips on email "Do's and Don'ts." Click on the links below for more information.
The system will enable you to easily do the following:
- Send a personal email to individual or selected members of the Maryland General Assembly
- Send a personal email to the entire Maryland General Assembly with a single mouse click
- Send a personal email to the entire Senate or the entire House of Delegates with a single mouse click
- Send a personal email to individual, selected members, or all members of a Committee
Committees currently on the system:
- Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee (gun bills)
- House Judiciary Committee (gun bills)
- Senate Education, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee (hunting bills)
- House Environmental Matters Committee (hunting bills)
Other features of the system:
- Preview function to enable you to view your actual email before sending it
- Listing of all intended recipients during the in the preview mode
- Automatically fills in your contact information on your email
- Sends a copy of your email to you for your records
What the system will not do:
- It will not write emails for you.
- The 2nd Amendment is an individual right. As a gun owner, you have an individual responsibility to protect that right.
Click here to use the AGC's Political Action Email System
Click here for AGC's Political Action Email System Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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AGC Range Rule Change
Page 527. Trap Range
J.) Firearms used in all trap events shall be fired from the shoulder. Folding stocks must be in the fully extended position.
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Keep Your Email Address and Profile Up to Date!
You can update your email address and interest profile (sublists such as AGC Newsletter, Gun Shows, Bus Trips, Hunting, Concealed Carry, etc.) at any time by clicking on the "Join Email List Icon below. A as current list member, you will be sent an automated email asking you to log on to the server and update your information.
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John H. Josselyn, Legislative Vice President
Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore, Inc.
P.O. Box 20102
Towson, MD 21284-0102
Email: lvp@associatedgunclubs.org
Webpage: www.associatedgunclubs.org
Article 1. That all Government of right originates from the People, is founded in compact only, and instituted solely for the good of the whole; and they have, at all times, the inalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their Form of Government in such manner as they may deem expedient. |
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