Gun Owner Licensing

Received in the email today from Maryland Shall Issue -

Delegate Sandy Rosenberg,(D), District 41, Baltimore City has introduced HB820: Firearms safety Act of 2010. The text isn’t officially attached to the bill as of yet but here’s what we think will be included in the bill.

•Notation on your drivers license denoting you as legally able to buy a gun.
•Mandatory fingerprinting to be licensed to purchase a firearm.
•Increased fees for the processing of gun applications.

There are potentially some other noxious things included in the bill that refer to dealers surrendering their records of sales to the Maryland State Police, thus providing them a registration list of even non-regulated firearms. [Ed.: Emphasis mine.]

We expected this to land in the Senate first and believe we will see it there by Tuesday morning.

Make no mistake, this bill would fundamentally change the nature of gun ownership in Maryland unlike anything we’ve seen in over a decade. It is our responsibility to shut this affront to our liberties before it ever sees the light of day in a hearing.

Here’s what we need you to do until we have the full text of the bill:
•Use the Activist’s Tools below to start sending emails today. Shut down their system.
•Call the members of the House Judiciary Committee below and tell them, “NO!” on HB820.

When they unveiled HB1446, the ammunition log bill last year, we shut it down in 24 hours and it was never even scheduled for a hearing. If everyone does their part today, we could see similar results.

Delegate Joseph Vallario – Chairman (D-27A) (410) 841-3488,
Delegate Sandy Rosenberg – Co-Chair (D-41) Lead sponsor of HB820 (410) 841-3297
Delegate Curtis Anderson (D-43) (410) 841-3291
Delegate Benjamin Barnes (D-21) (410) 841-3046
Delegate Jill Carter (D-41) (410) 841-3283
Delegate Frank Conaway Jr. (D-40) (410) 841-3189
Delegate Kathleen Dumais (D-15) (410) 841-3052
Delegate Don Dwyer Jr. (D-31) (410) 841-3047
Delegate William Frank (R-42) (410) 841-3793
Delegate J.B. Jennings (R-7) (410) 841-3698
Delegate Kevin Kelly (D-1B) (410) 841-3404
Delegate Benjamin Kramer (D-19) (410) 841-3485
Delegate Susan Lee (D-16) (410) 841-3649
Delegate Gerron Levi (D-23A) (410) 841-3101
Delegate Susan McComas (R-35B) (410) 841-3272
Delegate Tony McConkey (R-33A) (410) 841-3406
Delegate Victor Ramirez (D-47) (410) 841-3340
Delegate Todd Schuler (D-8) (410) 841-3526
Delegate Luiz Simmons (D-17) (410) 841-3037
Delegate Michael Smigiel Sr. (R-36) (410) 841-3555
Delegate Kriselda Valderrama (D-26) (410) 841-3210
Delegate Jeffrey Waldstreicher (D-18) (410) 841-3130

Activist Tools
Quick Email Tool
Find Your Delegate
Pre-formatted Mailing Labels for House Judiciary Committee
How to create mail merge letters using above labels

UPDATE: Traffic Cameras

This is just an FYI for any interested on this topic and what is happening throughout the country. Let’s look at L.A. for right now.

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L.A. County red-light violation fines have jumped 65% to $446, Times review finds
February 4, 2010 | 7:14 am
In less than eight years, fines for red-light traffic violations in Los Angeles County have jumped nearly 65% from an average of $271 to $446.

With traffic school fees, the total now exceeds $500. Ever-vigilant photo enforcement programs run by nearly 30 agencies across the county have added a new degree of efficiency to catching violators and capturing revenue to fund a variety of government programs.

In November alone, Los Angeles County’s Superior Court system processed payments on an estimated 13,000 red-light camera tickets. And local agencies with camera systems generated nearly $1.6 million in revenue, with an even larger portion of the red-light camera fines going to a combination of state and judicial programs, according to the estimates obtained by The Times.

Critics say the fines have become excessive and mainly a means for camera companies and cities to raise money. But some police and traffic officials, as well as motorists, contend the penalties properly reflect the serious injuries, death and property damage that can result from drivers running red lights.

Los Angeles’ red-light traffic camera program, which officials report netted more than $6 million last year after expenses, could be significantly expanded under a new contract to be negotiated over the next 14 months.

Although adding more cameras could offer a welcome boost to city revenue in the midst of a fiscal crisis, officials say any expansion will be based on safety considerations.

No goal has been set, but internal City Hall discussions have included the possibility of adding cameras to blocks of eight intersections at a time and eventually doubling the overall reach of the program to 64 intersections, Los Angeles Police Department officials told The Times.

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Still think it isn’t about the revenue?

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UPDATE: A Tennessee town has to get rid of its red light cameras because they aren’t making money. How about that.

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David Davis
Managing Editor
Sunday, Feb 07, 2010

The Red Light Enforcement Program will end March 31. Traffipax notified the city of Cleveland it would decommission five cameras such as this one at Raider Drive and Keith Street because it was losing money.

In a letter, Traffipax has announced plans to terminate its agreement with the city of Cleveland to operate the Red Light Enforcement Program. The cameras will be deactivated by March 31, according to a letter to City Manager Janice Casteel.
According to the letter dated Jan. 29, both the city of Cleveland and Traffipax have operated the sites at a financial loss. The plan is to decommission the five traffic cameras before March 31. Citation data will continue to be delivered to the city in order to continue collecting unpaid fines.

Another Better Article on ConCon

Last evening’s article on this topic of holding a convention gives a bit more of an explanation why past attempts fell short of actually having a convention.

Here’s the key (paraphrased): most voters select the candidates they wish to vote for, but skip the bottom ballot where questions may be. So, as an example, if statewide 5,000,000 vote and only 5,000 of them answer the ballot question then the definition of a majority is not considering those who voted on just that ballot question but all ballots. In short, 5,000 out of 5,000,000 is not a majority.

Here is where the voting public needs to understand how important it is to answer/vote on everything that appears on the ballot come November. Leave nothing unanswered.

Particularly if you feel strongly about needing to have new legislation by way of this Constitutional Convention.

Do you feel the need for voter referendums on local/statewide issues?
Do you feel Maryland needs a recall mechanism/process for elected officials?
Do you feel it is necessary for elected officials to have terms limited?
Do you feel we need to be a Shall Issue (instead of May) state when it comes to applying for concealed carry permits?
Do you feel we need to provide photo ID when voting?
Speed cameras??

If you believe we need any of the above (or other issues) then remember to vote your entire ballot come November 2, 2010.

Here is another article on the subject published today by the Baltimore Sun. Although I feel the need to explain (in case you don’t know) that a constitution is never ’shredded’ and started from scratch. Any constitutional changes made always show everything that has been written within it. Recent amendments that affect prior amendments do not erase or remove anything that has been written into the document. Just to be clear, and that everyone understands how this is done.

MD Assault Weapons Ban Introduced

Today State Senator Michael Lenett (D-19) introduced Senate Bill 516, a bill that would designate certain firearms as “assault weapons” and would prohibit the possession, transfer or receiving of these so called “assault weapons” by law-abiding Maryland residents. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. It will be the responsibility of the Handgun Roster Board to compile and maintain a roster of such prohibited “assault weapons”.

Banning semi-automatic firearms, based solely upon their appearance, among honest, law-abiding residents in Maryland, SB 516 is nothing more than posturing by extreme anti-gun politicians looking to take away our Second Amendment rights every chance they get.

Please contact your State Senator TODAY and respectfully request that he or she oppose Senate Bill 516! For contact information please click here.

Noticed By the General Assembly

Apparently, this topic strikes a chord with some.
And it appears that some do not like it.

My question: Most of us operate according to the rules and it seems difficult for legislators to do so when it comes to following the Constitution. Why is that?

Read this article on the MarylandReporter.com to see if you come up with the same question that I did.

March on to Annapolis Tonight

Sorry for the lateness of this post. Nevertheless, if anyone can spend the time to join those already there or just wants to be there on time for the 7PM event at the State House – here is some info:

http://site.marchonannapolis.com/

Be sure click the Buses link, depending on your county, some are leaving anywhere from 4pm to 6pm in order to get to Annapolis for the 7pm event.

I will offer to post some (not many) photos if anyone would like to share them here.

Thank you, and give our legislators what for.