Posted by Phil Lee (216.250.238.187) on December 30, 2000 at 13:18:
Concerns raised over Md. gun law
House's Taylor says vagueness creates burden for dealers
Greg Garland, Sun Staff, Dec 28 2000
Maryland House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. says that bureaucratic bungling in implementing a new gun safety law is creating serious problems for Maryland gun dealers and that many dealers are finding it difficult to get new guns from manufacturers.
"Clearly, a lot of people, including myself, voted for this bill because they believe in the gun safety aspects of the bill," Taylor said yesterday.
But the regulations were written so vaguely that the state has ended up with what amounts to a ban on the sale of many legal handguns, said Taylor, an Allegany County Democrat.
State officials responsible for implementing the gun safety law said they believe Taylor is being misled about the problems by people who opposed the new law, part of which took effect Oct. 1.
Taylor said his immediate concern is a part of the gun safety law that requires manufacturers to provide shell casings with ballistics fingerprinting.
Any gun shipped to Maryland since Oct. 1 has to have with it a casing of a shell that has been fired from it. The markings on a casing leave a "ballistic fingerprint" that can be used to identify a gun if it is used to commit a crime.
Taylor said Maryland dealers are having problems getting suppliers to ship new guns to them because they don't want to go to the trouble of setting up a system of providing shell casings with ballistic fingerprints - particularly since Maryland accounts for a small portion of their national sales.
He said there also are no clear guidelines as to whether fingerprinted shell casings can be created by Maryland State Police or by dealers, rather than manufacturers.
"This is a relatively easy problem to resolve if we in fact abide by the spirit of the law," Taylor said. "The spirit of the law is to create gun safety, and not a gun ban."
Taylor voiced his frustrations in a letter sent yesterday to Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr., with copies going to Gov. Parris N. Glendening, state police Col. David B. Mitchell and other state officials.
"Unfortunately, law-abiding citizens of Maryland who want to comply with its provisions have not been able to obtain a clear, definitive statement of what the law prohibits and what the law permits," Taylor wrote.
Gregory J. Costa, the Maryland lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, applauded Taylor's efforts.
"It's my understanding that the stream of commerce has been interrupted and there are not new products on the shelves," Costa said. "Manufacturers who don't have a clear, written regulation to go by can't comply."
Curran and state police officials defended the way the law has been implemented and suggested that Taylor might have been misled about any problems.
"The regulations are there," Curran said. "State police did what they were supposed to do. It seems like it's all spelled out. I don't know what the problem is."
Curran said his office would be in touch with Taylor to discuss his concerns.
State police Maj. Thomas Bowers said his agency held a series of dealer seminars around the state in the fall to educate them about the new law, and also has kept in close contact with distributors and manufacturers.
"I don't believe there is as much confusion as the NRA would like people to believe," Bowers said.
"We are receiving shell casings from manufacturers of guns sold in Maryland. No manufacturer has indicated an unwillingness to cooperate. These are businessmen interested in complying with the law."
Bowers said it is true that some gun manufacturers have not yet set up systems to supply shell casings with ballistics fingerprinting.
But he said problems with the new law - the first of its kind in the country - are not extensive.
"I think [Taylor] is being misled by certain gun dealers who are unhappy with this law," Bowers said. "It's reasonable gun legislation."