Posted by Phil Lee (216.250.238.49) on October 01, 2000 at 21:01:
Del. Mandel sponsored HB 1132 making it illegal to transport handguns in Maryland. Specifically the bill provides that: "Any person who shall wear, carry, or transport any handgun, whether concealed or open, upon or about his person, and any person who shall wear, carry or knowingly transport any handgun, whether concealed or open, in any vehicle traveling upon the public roads, highways, waterways, or airways or upon roads or parking lots generally used by the public in this State shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and it shall be a rebuttable presumption that the person is knowingly transporting the handgun; ..." So, you could not even carry your legally owned pistol to the range.
Del. Mandel sponsored HB 595 to permit courts to order "ex parte" (i.e., without hearing from both sides) gun owners to the immediate surrender to law enforcement authorities any firearm in the their possession for the duration of the order. If you are a gun owner, you become guilty without trial and are subject to state seizure or property as a penalty. Moreover the bill provides: "An officer shall arrest with or without a warrant and take into custody a person whom the officer has probable cause to believe is in violation of an ex parte order or protective order in effect at the time of the violation." Ordinarily, police can arrest only with warrents issued by judges or when they have witnessed a crime. To permit arrest on "probable cause" would permit great abuse by authorities.
Del. Mandel sponsored HB 444 to require state or local law enforcement agencies to destroy unnecessary, unneeded, or forfeited firearms and providing a specified exceptions to the destruction requirement to allow a firearm to be "retained" [read stolen] by a law enforcement agency for official use. That bill is effectively a tax increase since valuable property owned by the state (old police firearms) will be destroyed rather than sold on the commercial market. This is another feel good anti-gun piece of legislation.
Del. Mandel sponsored HB 279 (the House version of the SB 211 which passed) to prohibit a firearms dealer from selling, renting, or transferring in the State any handgun manufactured after December 31, 2001, unless the handgun has an integrated mechanical safety device and to require a safety course before regulated firearms may be purchased. The safety course is a prior restraint on a Constitutional right which (for the first amendment) has been held illegal for the government to do.