Posted by Phil Lee (149.32.89.229) on September 14, 2000 at 18:01:
Dear Mr. Lee: This is the first e-mail I received from Sen. Ferguson. He distributed it in response to a Sun article and criticism of him distributed by Guy1111@aol.com (I don't know offhand who that is.) With this and the subsequent e-mails I send you, to read them in order go from bottom to top, as the reply to each is posted above the preceeding one. Date: Sunday, March 26, 2000 11:12 PM Good news! The "Smart Gun" is dead! The gun control Senators pulled the Governor's "Smart Gun" bill from the Judicial Proceedings Committee on Thursday. They knew the votes were not there to pass it out. After pulling the bill out of committee and putting it back on the floor, they immediately stripped out the "Smart Gun" technology. They knew we had at least twenty (20) Senators willing to filibuster the "Smart Gun" forever. It takes 16 Senators (out of 47) to sustain a filibuster. They changed the bill's language to "integrated mechanical safety device" which can be "deactivated" by the gun owner. If you’re familiar with handguns, a semi-automatic handgun already has an integrated safety device - it's the safety switch. You can toggle it "on" or "off." But it's up to you - not the gun. (When it's up to the gun it's a "Smart Gun.") Once the gun-controllers stripped away the "Smart Gun" language, we lost at least 5 Senators on the filibuster. The Republican Senate Caucus submitted three more amendments to the Governor's bill: No matter how much they or we water down the bill, it's still a lousy bill and I won't vote for it!!!! There's more to come - we still have two weeks left of the session and I'll be in touch with you later about all of these bad bills; but, for now I thought it was important to let you know what is going on with the gun-control issue. Until you hear from me again........ "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!" Senator Tim Ferguson (R-4), Republicans met in caucas in the morning and conservatives promised MADDEN they'd sell out for Minority Leader Madden and MIller. (Republican)Filibuster bid fails; compromise version widely supported; `Smart gun' idea dropped; Maryland to become first state to require internal firearm locks Opponents of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's gun safety legislation threw in the towel, removing the most serious obstacle to passage of the groundbreaking bill and clearing the way for a final Senate vote Monday. Although there is a chance the bill could still be derailed on its way to the governor's desk, Glendening wasted no time yesterday in claiming victory on one of the key items in his year 2000 legislative package. "When this bill is in place, lives will be saved," the governor told a hastily called news conference. He predicted that at least a half-dozen other states would follow Maryland's lead over the next 18 months -- increasing the pressure on manufacturers to produce safer guns. The bill would require an internal mechanical trigger lock in any handgun sold in Maryland by 2003. As part of a compromise, it was amended to drop the governor's original idea of requiring so-called "smart-gun" technologies as early as that year, but the governor said the legislation gives him 90 percent of what he wanted. Opponents dropped their plans to filibuster as it became clear that Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller would muster the votes to end debate. The legislation is expected to pass Monday with several votes to spare -- including those of as many as four Republicans. The bill still needs to clear the House of Delegates, but the governor and his allies believe they have enough votes to pass it with a comfortable margin. It is still possible that the bill could hit snags in the House Judiciary Committee, but House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. has indicated he favors passage of the Senate bill. The Senate gave preliminary approval to the bill yesterday after amending it to reflect a compromise between Miller and the governor gave the once-languishing bill new momentum. Senators also adopted several noncontroversial changes suggested by Republican senators as their price for dropping their filibuster plans. Greg Costa, Maryland liaison for the National Rifle Association, expressed anger over what he called a "travesty." "It's a shame the politics of this process have been dictated by Al Gore and the Washington agenda," he said, referring to the Clinton administration's support for greater gun safety. Partisans on both sides said a key turning point in the struggle came last week when Smith & Wesson agreed with the Clinton administration to introduce guns with internal trigger locks at about the same time the governor proposed to require them. "Smith & Wesson's sellout has given cover to every anti-gun politician," Costa complained. Miller and other senators had balked at requiring smart guns -- using such technologies as radio waves or fingerprint identification to recognize an authorized user -- because they are not yet available in commercial form. Gun safety advocates applauded the trigger-lock provision, which would kick in by 2003, a year later than the governor had proposed. It would not affect guns sold before that date. "It's not 100 percent of what we wanted, but it is a way to stop some The peaceful resolution to what was expected to be a contentious debate came after the administration and GOP senators reached an agreement yesterday morning that let the bill move forward. The deal came less than a day after an acrimonious clash on the Senate floor over Miller's use of a seldom-invoked rule to pull the bill out of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, where opponents held a majority. After losing that vote, conservative Republicans had promised to filibuster until the bill was killed or watered down to the point that Glendening wouldn't accept it. By yesterday morning, collegiality had returned to the Senate floor, where onlookers witnessed the unusual sight of liberal Montgomery Democrat Christopher Van Hollen Jr. and conservative Carroll Republican Timothy R. Ferguson jointly sponsoring amendments to a gun bill. Ferguson, who represented conservative Republicans in negotiations with the governor last night and this morning, put the best face on the gun rights advocates' retreat. He pointed to the elimination of any "smart guns" mandate -- a concession Glendening and Miller had negotiated earlier in the week. The Carroll County lawmaker said that, while he believes the internal trigger locks are technological "overkill," they were not unduly intrusive on individual rights because the gun owner can choose to leave the devices unlocked. "This entire bill now is a bill that allows the owner of the gun to The changes the Republicans won in return for forgoing the filibuster were relatively minor, and none affected the central issue of the internal trigger locks. Most of them involved a provision of the bill requiring handgun purchasers to take safety courses. In addition to giving exemptions to people who have already had firearms training, senators specified that people who take the courses could not be required to pass a test. Ferguson said Republicans and conservative Democratic allies could have kept up a filibuster for four or five days, but he conceded that Miller would have inevitably rounded up the votes to cut off debate. Other senators doubted that it would have taken the Senate president anywhere near that long. A filibuster would have been a risky strategy for Republicans at a time when public opinion polls are showing overwhelming support for the governor's initiative. The Senate GOP normally maintains a united front against cutting off debate, but several moderate Republicans from swing suburban districts were apparently unwilling to hold out long. The administration's goal in the House is to win passage of what Glendening called a "clean bill" -- the Senate bill with no more amendments. Glendening said that as part of the negotiations to win Senate passage he agreed to make the safety bill the last important gun initiative of his administration. With Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend standing beside him, Glendening noted that some of the provisions wouldn't take effect until "Kathleen's term" -- a transparently deliberate mistake that he changed to "the next governor's term."
-----Original Message-----
From: Timothy R. Ferguson
To: Guy1111@aol.com
Subject: Re: Republican's back down on filibuster after promising!
No deals with the Governor - we beat him!
Please pass this e-mail on to your Second Amendment friends so they can know what's happening with the "Smart Gun" legislation proposed by the Governor.
1) Open-ended training requirements allowing any gun organization (local or national, such as the NRA or gun clubs) to certify anyone who wants to take the 2-hour training course with no testing provisions - only attendance certifies the training;
2) Grand-fathering already trained persons, such as active or honorably discharged military service personnel, security guards, retired cops, DNR officers or current permit holders for concealed weapons;
3) Two (2) additional members on the Handgun Roster Board who must be either a Mechanical or Electrical Engineer who can verify whether any gun with an integrated locking device is faulty.
Frederick & Carroll Counties
Guy1111@aol.com wrote:
Legislature poised to pass gun lock bill
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By Michael Dresser
Sun Staff
The Maryland General Assembly appears on the verge of enacting the first law in the country requiring built-in handgun locks, as plans for a Senate filibuster collapsed with surprising speed yesterday.
suicides and some accidental shootings and some stolen-gun homicides," said Eric Gally, lobbyist for Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse.
manipulate the gun. It is not the gun manipulating the owner," Ferguson said.