MaryLand – -(Ammoland.com)- Delegate Ben Barnes is trying for a second bite at the apple with his attempt to make Maryland college property part of the infamous “Gun Free Zones” with House Bill 159, euphemistically titled “Weapon-Free Higher Education Zones”.
This is a modification of the similar bill he introduced last year, which a “Conference Committee” tried to get rammed through the Senate in the waning hours of Sine Die. The 2A community rallied last year to get the word out on very short notice and helped in preventing this misguided bill being passed.
The hearing will take place in a different committee in the House than normal firearms/crime-related bills.
Even though this bill has significant ramifications for the criminal statutes in Maryland, the House leadership has, again this year, decided to have a crime bill heard in the Appropriations Committee.
This bill imposes strict penalties, applies to more than just the grounds of a “campus“, and could cause an individual to lose a Constitutionally-protected right for life over a potentially simple mistake.
The hearing is currently scheduled to take place on January 31, 2017, at 1:00PM in the Appropriations Committee Room at the Maryland House Office Building, 6 Bladen St., Annapolis, MD 21401. The public is welcome to testify – please make sure to sign in at the Committee Room no later than 12:45PM on the date of the hearing.
Testimony guidelines may be found here – https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/pubs-current/current-app-faqs.pdf.
Please contact the members of the Appropriations Committee and politely request that they oppose this bill. The members of the Appropriations Committee may be contacted from the Committee page on the Maryland General Assembly Website – https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?pid=cmtepage&stab=04&id=app&tab=subject7&ys=2017RS.
Regards,
Michael J Doherty
2nd Vice President – Legislative Affairs
Maryland State Rifle & Pistol Associaton
[email protected]
About Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association (MSRPA):
The Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association (MSRPA) is the flagship Gun Rights organization in and for the State of Maryland. The Association offers both individual and club memberships. Support of the shooting disciplines and legislative activities is primarily through a systems of committees. All participants are volunteers. In the face of a near tidal wave of citizen disarmament occurring in Maryland, the MSRPA has played a critical part in drawing the line and standing firm for Gun Rights. Without this resistance, things would have been much worse and been so much sooner. Now the objective is to continue to develop new activists with numerous individual skills who will help us bring Maryland into line with the rest of the states which have made strong gains in protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
For more information, visit: www.msrpa.org.