Candidates are color and coded according to their support for RKBA.  Red font indicates support for gun control -- Opposes RKBA.  Grey font signifies that insufficient positive information is available from the candidate to rate the candidate as pro-RKBA. In those cases, the candidate is ranked as No Recommendation.  Some of the candidates did respond with answers that equivocated or ignored the survey.  Their No Recommendation rating means only that the candidate should be questioned closely because it appears they are tryin to hide on the issue.  Others did not respond at all and a small number had no E-mail address or their address was bad and have not yet been contacted.  The survey evaluation is explained below.  We also considered candidate responses to the GOA survey and the Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse house survey.  In some cases the candidate answers to MAHA were not consistent with their answers here.  Significant pro- or ANTI- MAHA support shown by that survey is indicated by the candidate name and the color coding.

Incumbents were rated from their record of votes (see Incumbent Records) and they can be recognized on this page because they are rated without a record of responses.  New candidates having a listed E-mail address were sent a three question survey.  The record of those that responded is given below along with our evaluation.  If addition information was provided by the candidate or through search of the public record of other political actions, that too was used and is provide through the link to the right of the name (click on the A).  Links to the right of incumbents are to data collected on this web site from their public record.

The survey statement were:

1. ___ Agree ___ Disagree
I recognize that law-abiding Maryland residents have the individual right to keep and bear arms which I will defend in my legislative duties as required by my oath of office to defend the Constitutions of Maryland and the United States.

2. ___ Agree ___ Disagree
I oppose the government adding obstacles that create a prior restraint on law-abiding citizens in exercising their rights to lawful use of firearms. So, I do not favor registration of firearms and requiring citizens to obtain permits to own firearms.

3. ___ Agree ___ Disagree
Research shows that violent crime decreases when law-abiding citizens are permitted to carry concealed firearms at their discretion. So, I will support revisions to Maryland's code to require concealed handgun licenses be issued to law-abiding applicants and to recognize permits issued by other states.

Candidate indicating agreement with a statement are indicated as "Y". Disagreement is marked as "N".

For the general election, the candidates are grouped only by District.

Voting Record

Support for RKBA by incumbents evaluated from vote record on SB 211 as published in Washington Times on 4/5/00.  Also considered are the votes in the House on Amendments to SB211 (see that linked document) and sponsorship of other Anti-RKBA legislation during the 2001, 2000 and 1996 legislative sessions.

Evaluation

Candidates agreeing with all three statements are rated as Supporting RKBA UNLESS they show support for MAHA.

Candidates disagreeing with question 1 are rated as Opposing RKBA because they do not recognize your individual right to keep and bear arms.  Almost all candidates claimed to recognize your individual right to keep and bear arms, but many expressed the attitude that right was essentially without meaning by disagreeing with both of the second two statements.  Those candidates are rated as Opposing RKBA also.  The candidates who disagreed with one of the last two statements and agreed with the other are more difficult to evaluate.  They are listed as No Recommendation as are the candidate that did not have E-mail and have not been contacted.

In many cases candidates did not respond to two requests by E-mail.  Most of those are Democrats and we can only guess why they did not respond.  In several cases, candidates responded to say they would not answer the questions.  Their messages are linked from the "A" to the right of their names so that you can evaluate their messages.  In such case we mark them No Recommendation (No Response).

Obviously, a new candidate with a weak attitude expressed in grey may be preferred to an incumbent who has a long history of gun-control support.  We have not considered context of the opponents in this rating effort. 

Updated by   Phil Lee on 10/9/02.