Quoted:
In the context of SB0281

the word 'SAFETY'  means SLAVERY.

What you are seeing here is a resurgence of the slave state.
.
Democrats, and their Socialist brothers must be STOPPED at all cost.
.
.

ah thanks we are working on it.



.
YOU need to get control of your state Legislators, before they take control of YOU.

Dear {title} {last name},

Upon reading the language of SB281, I must strongly encourage you to vote NO on this overbearing and ill-advised bill.

Here are just a few reasons why this bill is a terrible idea for Maryland:

1) The bill requires a registration (incl. $15 fee per item) of all "regulated firearms," a category which currently includes handguns.  Maryland already has a handgun registry, which incurs a $10 fee per item, a 7-day waiting period, and a 30-day purchase disqualification on a second regulated firearm.  Additionally, the Crime Lab of the MSP already collects fired shell casings from every handgun for use in a database record.  These measures already exist.

Based upon the existence of SB281, am I to understand that the current registration, databases, regulations, and fees aren't effective enough at preventing crime?  Am I to further understand that adding MORE databases, regulations, and fees would help correct that defficiency?  What, then, will be the future response by the legislature if crime continues?

I'm going to take a wild guess here and say it'll be more databases, regulations, and fees, because those things worked so well the first two times.

2) The cost of the program is excessive and should not be imposed on law-abiding Marylanders.  In addition to the $15 fee per item, there is a $100 fee to apply for a "Handgun Qualification License."  Additional requirements include fingerprinting (an appx. $10 fee per card, two cards required), an 8-hour safety course, and the MSP background check access fee (currently $18).  Although we don't yet know what the 8-hour course will cost, a rough figure can be used based upon contemporary training that is available.  An introductory handgun course from a quality educator can cost anywhere from $150 to appx. $350.  I have personally received training from CMCT in North East, MD.  Their classes are taught by active law enforcement officers and expert firearms instructors; their current class schedule may be found on their website here: http://www.centermasscombattactics.com/training-classes/

This is just one example, but is typical of high-quality training curricula within the firearms community.  Their basic handgun course costs $300, and includes an 8-hour classroom evolution, along with a second day of live-fire instruction.  With a shortened range session for qualification only, an approximate cost of $200 is a reasonable estimate.

To further review the cost, consider also that applicants will likely need to miss work to obtain fingerprints and submit the application, at an average cost of $115 per day of lost wages ($42k/yr average salary).  Any transportation required can be figured at the GSA rate of $0.45 per mile, though I'll ignore that here.

All told, the cost just to apply for a HQL will run an average Marylander $568, plus transportation and incidental costs.  This is in addition to the registration fees, and is recurring every five years, under the bill.

For a household of two adults, each of whom owns only one rifle and one handgun covered under the bill, this legislation ammounts to a tax of $1,196.00, plus an average cost of $227.20/yr thereafter, for the rest of their lives.  This does not include the loss of time spent meeting the training requirement and preparing and submitting the applications.

SB281 will require this more than $1000 per household tax just to allow Marylanders to retain posession of the firearms they already have!

3) The new deffinitions of "assault weapon" would prohibit the sale of nearly every semiautomatic sporting firearm in current common use by Marylanders.  The bill prohibits even one feature, listed under subsection 4-301(E), from the design of all semiautomatic rifles.  This bill would ban thousands of varieties of weapons, from bonafide collectors items, such as vintage M1 Garand rifles equipped with rare grenade launching mechanisms (despite the grenades themselves being outright banned by federal law), to sporting rifles such as are in common use in the government-endorsed Civillian Marksmanship Program (CMP).

As a member and competitor in the MD State Rifle Team, I can assure you that this bill would ban every single firearm permitted for use within the competition's rules.  Even so-called "race rifles," which are long, heavy, cumbersome, and have virtually no practical application outside of the Match Rifle classification discipline they were designed for, would be banned under the bill.  Maryland currently boasts top competitors in the Service Rifle and Match Rifle classifications at the national level, and this bill would greatly restrict their ability to compete for our state, and would virtually eliminate the possibility of new marksmen to carry their torches into the future.

I also compete in various handgun disciplines, notably International and Olympic events including Men's Pistol, Sport Pistol, and the pistol component of the Modern Pentathlon.  Hundreds of varieties of competition pistols in current, common use in those competitions would be banned under this legislation, including the Walther GSP, the Pardini SP, and all others which utilize in-line construction and accept the magazine outside of the pistol grip.  These are competition handguns which often cost over two thousand dollars, yet they are demonized simply because of their nonstandard layout.

Further, what good does expanding the categories of restricted and banned firearms do in terms of public safety?  How many crimes are committed with two-thousand-dollar competition guns?  I don't know, but I'd be surprised if it were even a handful.  This bill would do little aside from further restricting the liberties and freedoms of millions of law-abiding Marylanders.


I hope this message has made you aware of just a few of the possible ramifications of the ill-advised SB281.  It would do nothing to stop crime, it would impose more than a $1000-per-household tax on lawful gun owners, and it would eliminate many of our sportsmens' abilities to compete on the national and international stages.  Someone more familiar with the areas of self defense and hunting would doubtless know of potential impacts in those other areas.

Please vote NO on SB281.  Thank you for your time.

Quoted:
Its the 6th and NOT the 8th!