Maryland Delegate Luiz Simmons is proposing closing a loophole in Maryland law that will make it easier to take guns away from those convicted of violent crimes. In Maryland, gun owners convicted of certain crimes are required to surrender their guns. However, the State lacks an enforcement mechanism. According to Delegate Simmons:
Here is our problem in Maryland! There are presently 450,000 people who own 800,000 guns in our communities. Under Maryland law, if a gun owner commits a violent crime like domestic assault, car jacking, or burglary, the law requires the gun owner to surrender the gun.
This law can’t be enforced because we have two computers in Maryland that won’t talk to each other. One computer, run by the Department of Corrections, contains all the names of people convicted of violent crimes. The other computer, run by the State police, contains all the names of registered gun owners. The two computers don’t communicate because there is no program that allows them to speak to each other.
The result? If someone who bought a gun is later convicted of a violent crime like domestic violence the State Police have no way of finding out and enforcing the law that requires gun owners convicted of a crime to surrender their weapon.
http://www.change.org/...
Delegate Simmons is proposing that the State of Maryland spend $300,000 on software that will allow Maryland to link these two databases and another $35,000 for an employee to track these convictions.
Delegate Simmons has set up a Petition to Governor O'Malley through change.org. In that Petition, Delegate Simmons states:
Governor O’Malley, we NEED to set aside these funds. A person who commits a crime-- even a misdemeanor—is nearly five times as likely to be charged with new offenses involving firearms or violence. Responsible gun ownership means taking responsibility for the 80,000 assault weapons grandfathered in under your Firearm Safety Act, and making sure they are not still in the hands of the violent, the dangerous, or the abusive.
http://www.change.org/...
Delegate Simmons' proposal seems very reasonable, and as he himself stated:
“Regardless on your position on gun control, whether you believe in the Second Amendment or you don’t believe in the Second Amendment, all of us should be able to find common ground with the proposition that convicted criminals and domestic abusers should not have guns,” Del. Simmons says.
http://www.wjla.com/...
I have not seen the NRA's position on Delegate Simmons' proposal but given their position on other gun control legislation I suspect that they will be opposed to it.
Raquel Guillory, spokeswoman for Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), said the administration supports linking the two databases, but it would require legislation to do so.
http://www.gazette.net/...
Absent a special session being called, the Maryland Legislature will not meet again until January 2014.