Maryland Shall Issue Review of 2012 Gun Legislation

Maryland ––(Ammoland.com)- Maryland Shall Issue Reviews current and pending Gun related Legislation for 2012.

House Bills 2012

HB-45 – Handgun Permits – Qualifications – Presumption and Burden of Proof – SUPPORT

No Hearing Scheduled

Repealing the requirement that the Secretary of State Police base a finding that an applicant for a handgun permit has a good and substantial reason to wear, carry, or transport a handgun on an investigation; establishing a presumption that an applicant for a handgun permit has a good and substantial reason to wear, carry, or transport a handgun for the purposes of qualifying for a handgun permit; and establishing that the Secretary has the burden of specified proof.

HB -208 – Baltimore City Public School System – Governance – NO POSITION

This is just a functional bill that rewords some of the language in this part of the existing code. It’s only filed as a “gun bill” because this section of the code authorizes Baltimore City Schools Police Officers to carry a firearm. There’s nothing of interest for our folks.

HB-209 – Public Safety – Possession of Firearms – Crimes Committed in Other States – NO POSITION

No Hearing Scheduled

Prohibiting a person from possessing a regulated firearm, rifle, or shotgun if the person was previously convicted of an offense under the laws of another state or the United States that would constitute a crime of violence or a violation of specified provisions of law if committed in this State.

This bill modifies HB-241 that passed last year. HB-241 specified that anyone convicted of any of a series of enumerated crimes of violence would be prohibited from owning any firearm. HB-209 extends that to include convictions in other states. We have reservations about how a correlation will be drawn between offenses in other states, where the crime may not be a disqualifying crime, and Maryland code. However, it’s likely that the trial attorneys, including many of the members of the General Assembly who are attorneys, are going to put this one to rest and it is better left to them.

HB-256 – Regulated Firearms – License Issue By Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia or West Virginia – Reciprocity – SUPPORT

No Hearing Scheduled

Specifying that a license to carry a regulated firearm, including a concealed regulated firearm, issued to an individual by Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or West Virginia is valid in Maryland.

We’ll have more on this bill in the very near future.

HB-300 – Public Safety – Handgun Permits – Renewal Period For Retired law Enforcement – POSITION PENDING

Senate Bills 2012
SB-64 – Public Safety -Machine Gun Registration – Notice To Renew – SUPPORT

Hearing Scheduled for Thursday, February 2 at 1:00pm

Requiring the Secretary of State Police, on or before March 15 in each year succeeding the registration of a machine gun, to notify the registrant in writing of the requirement to renew the registration.

Background on this bill:
A person who acquires a machine gun must register the machine gun with the Secretary of State Police within 24 hours after acquiring the machine gun and in each succeeding year during the month of May. The Secretary of State Police is required to prepare and, on request of an applicant, furnish an application form for registration.

What we need you to do:

Contact the members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

Dial 1-800-492-7122 + Ext. number

  1. Tell them that this is common sense legislation that protects Maryland citizens who go to extraordinary lengths to comply with both state and federal laws in order to own these firearms.
  2. Tell them that there is no reason that the Maryland State Police can not manage this from a logistical and fiscal standpoint. There are 928 machine guns registered in the state of Maryland. If the emissions program can send out thousands of reminders every year for the $14 inspection fee, the Maryland State Police can send out 928 reminders.
  3. Tell them that the cost of sending these reminders is ultimately cheaper than enforcement against those law-abiding Maryland gun owners who forget to mail in their annual registration for their machine guns.
Maryland Shall Issue, Inc.
1332 Cape Saint Claire Road #342
Annapolis, Maryland 21409
240-446-6782

About Maryland Shall Issue:

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.

Maryland Shall Issue