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COMMENTARY Tbmsday May 4 2000 Page 18 New Maryland gun bill: a shot in the foot America's Just when you thought that the State of Brian Griffiths examines the Rifle Association or Gun Owners of America Maryland couldn't possibly do any worse. effects of the newly instituted publicize these numbers, the media gener- bloodiest On April 3, a date that will surely live in Maryland gun law. ally identifies them as fanatics. infamy, The House of Delegates passed Sen- Politicians who advocate gun control gen- be stuck home videos ate Bill 211. This is the bill that requires all The people on this side of the issue have erallydon't like the reporting of these kinds handguns sold in Maryland be sold with a used every political tool at their disposal to of things either. Then, they might gun lock after October I and to be con- try revoke our second Amendment rights and in the position that Maryland State Senate Matthew Hurff examines the structed with an integrated lock after Janu- take guns out of the hands of honest, hard Judicial Proceedings Chairman Walter M. recent video release of the ary 1,2003. working Americans. Baker finds himself in presently. Columbine shooting spree, Thus, the State of Maryland has made it They've used the media. Lots of times State Senator Timothy Ferguson from that much harder for an honest citizen to uti- on news programs you'll see stories about Carroll County had introduced Senate Bill If you haven't seen enough carnage lize their handgun for the purposes of self- "America's Gun Problem." If you believe 234 this legislative year, a bill that would from the Columbine shooting, you can defense. these stories, guns are solely responsible for loosen the restrictions on concealed carry now view it on videocassette for your Once again, government has ignored the all of the crime that exists in this country. laws in Maryland. whole family to relive over and over second Amendment and moved towards fur- This just lends credence to the statement Baker was originally in support of again. thering control of all guns in America. made by Florida State University criminolo- Ferguson's measure. But Senate .President This video, released Tuesday, contains Some of you are probably wondering gist Gary Kleck when he said, "In the war Mike Miller came down on Baker and basi- graphic footage of bloodstained carpets, what is wrong with gun locks. Why the re- over guns, the first casualty was the truth." cally forced him into a position where the bullet shattered windows, and worst of quirements for gun locks has any bearing on Truth be told crime rates are actually bill was killed in the Judiciary Committee. all, wounded children being dragged from the second Amendment to the Constitution. lower in states where there are fewer hand- Problem was, Baker called the vote while the besieged high school. And ho_w in the world this will affect you, gun restrictions then in states with more re- Senator Ferguson was in the bathroom and These tapes are being distributed to Truth be told, crime rates are actually lower in states where there are fewer victim's families and sold to others by the Fire Department for $25 dollars. Littleton handgun restrictions then in states with more. This is one of the most ridiculous ideas I have ever heard of. Hey, why don't we tape US. soldiers John Q. Citizen. But there is almost no doubt strictions. In his excellent study "More Guns, unable to vote for his own bill. dying in battle and send it to victim's that SB 211 will be most detrimental toresi- Less Crime" Dr. John R. Lou, Jr. of the Uni- The politicians cannot overtly bring gun families? dents of Maryland. versity of Chicago examines the crime rate control to our state and our nation. They try Maybe instead we shouldvideotape Have you seen the locks that Governor data from the various states. to sneak it in through the back door by-pro- the grotesque, mangled remains of an air- Parris Glendening has been preaching for? He divides them into two types of states; claiming their interest in "the public safety line crash to display to all. They are locks that are put into the gun where non-discretionary carry states, which allow of their constituents." This is the reason why The video was apparently released the magazine is loaded. A key is placed into virtually anyone to carry a concealed SB 211 was passed. It is one more step to- first to fire departments at a convention the lock and from there it can be unlocked, weapon, and other slates which usually have wards the abolition of firearms, the aboli- in Albuquerque, NM for training pur- and the gun can thus be fired normally. Only various restrictions on carrying or outright . tion of the 2nd Amendment, and the aboli- poses only: problem is that it is very difficult to remove outlaw carrying. Maryland is one of the lat- tion of the right of the American citizen to However, at this convention, snippets the lock under pressure. ter states. defend themselves. of footage taped by firefighters surround- During a press conference, it took What did Dr. Lett's studies reveal? The The numbers speak for themselves. The ing the school were accidentally released Glendening nearly two minutes to unlock the states with the lowest rate of murders were less gun control bills enacted, the safer it is to the media. ones that allowed anybody to carry a con- for the American citizenry. We've already got Yes, r do find a value for law enforce- ~t~r;~~~~r~~;:;y~~; ~:~~e:~;p~~:~~~ cealed weapon. 1 ...f '"'T. £: ~ /20,000 gun laws on the books that aren't menragencies-to view this video'; 'so-that ' familiar with firearms and that's why the gun Violent crime is 81 % higher in states that being enforced. The rights of the citizens the mistakes of this tragedy can be would not unlock. Parris Glendening is an restrict the citizen's right to carry; it's 86% have held up in the courts by cases such as avoided and the tactics that were effec- intelligent man. If it took him nearly two higher in states that outlaw handguns. When 1833's Simpson v. State ofTennessee, 1850's tive can be shared. minutes to unlock the weapon in a situation criminals have no way of telling who is State of Louisiana v. Chandler, and 1894's However, what Ifind particularly-puz- where his life is not in danger, how will the armed and who is not, the crime rates gener- Miller v. State of Texas. zling is that this "training video" has Sa- average citizen possibly be able to use the ally are lower. So if the abolition of all hand- Unfortunately, gun control advocates in rah McLachlin's "I Remember You" 'weapon in self-defense? guns is the answer to society's problems, can Maryland have sentenced Maryland to an along with several other songs, playing While gun locks are bad, what is most somebody explain why the murder rate in unsafe, unsure, dangerous future. A shame in [he background. reprehensible is the way in which the poli- states that forbid concealed weapons is 127% really. Call me crazy, but I do not think that tics of the situation have played out. The higher than states that allow anybody to One of the niclmames for our state is ''The policemen and firefighters are huge Sa- entire gun control debate has sprung about carry? Free State." When one is living in fear for rah McLachlin fans, therefore, someone from the desire of certain elements of soci- Gun control advecates generally don't their lives and can't readily use a handgun must have been planning on releasing this ety to completely disarm the American pub- like statistics like that to be broadcast in the for self-defense, how free can that person blood-drenched piece of film to the pub- lic. media. Whenever groups like the National truly be? lie from the start. Sports Spotlight: News from the NHL & MLB ~:~;::~~th Beth Nimmo, the mbther NHL hockey in Oklahoma City? Accord- Malt Hurff comments on recent 6.48, a far cry from his tidy 2.90 ERA last of slain student Rachel Scott when she says, "For the first time today, I saw my ing to businessman and owner of the Okla- happenings in the NHL and Major year. In fact, Hampton has already had the daughter being dragged over to the fire homa City Blazers, Bob Funk, an unnamed League Baseball. same number of losses, (4) as he had in the engine. I don't need to see that and no- NHL hockey team has spoken with him about entire 1999 season when he went 22-4. body else needs to see that." ¥ the possibility of moving a NHL franchise traded from Seattle to his boyhood home of Well, cheer up Mike, at least you are play- This is just a case of thoughtlessness to Oklahoma. Cincinnati? ing the majority of your games in Shea Sta- on the part of the Littleton Fire Depart- Reports from Canada indicate that the Well, thus far, Griffey'S homecoming has dium, not Enron Field, the new home run ment and the authorities that are selling team who contacted Funk, the Calgary not been an enjoyable one: a man who has haven home of (he Astros. (his video for $25 dollars. flames are also looking at the possibility of 403 home runs at only age 3D,.and is possi- In other baseball news, 16 members of rdo believe that their intentions were moving to Portland, Oregon, Houston or bly the best player of his generation, is only the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Ti- good, as they wanted a way to help law Kansas City. flames CEO Ron Bremner is currently batting .197. gers were suspended for a total of 82 games enforcement agencies deal with such situ- vehemently denying this as he says. "I have This has not been just a matter of bad for their roles in game between the two teams ations in the future, and maybe even cre- not initiated any calls to anyone in the United luck. In 20 games, Griffey has been swing- which was marred by two brawls. ate some way of remembering the vic- States," in The Calgary Herald. ing at bad pitches and letting good ones go The first brawl occurred when Detroit tims of this tragedy. :, This is a move that should be discour- by for strikes. In response to this slow stan, second baseman Dean Palmer was struck by However, this was not the way to ap- aged by NHL officials. Griffey said to The Sporting News, "I've al- a pitch thrown by Chicago'S Jim Parque. proach the issue. Since the beginning of 1990s there has' ways said it's not how you start. It's how you Palmer was ejected from the game be- Even when the shooting was happen- been an exodus of NHL franchises bolting finish. It's a 162-game schedule. It's not three cause of this, yet returned to the field when ing, many news agencies received flak from Canada and the northern US. to the weeks. Anything can happen. Guys can get the second fracas broke out in the ninth in- for showing gory scenes from Colum- sunbelt region, where hockey does not have hot. Guys can get cold. Things are going to ning when t~e White Sox's Bob Howry hit bine, such as student Patrick Ireland historical roots as the Quebec Nordiques, tum around. That's baseball." Tiger's outfielder Shane Halter with a pitch. plummeting from a 2nd story window Winnipeg Jets, Hartford Whalers and the' Mike Hampton, the most notable pitch- In the end, the players involved in this among chards of glass as a last ditch ef- Minnesota North Stars have all departed for ing acquisition of the off-season would cer- brawl received possibly the stiffest penalties fort to survive. new homes. Should another team move also? tainly fit the "cold" category so far. The for such an offense in baseball history. What makes the authorities think that While on the topic of moving, what have form,er Houston Astro has been unimpres- These two teams still play each other six in a year the public would now want to been the results of Major League Baseball's sive in his stay with the New York Mets thus more times before the season ends. Will this watch three hours of such gore? big post season move, as Ken Griffey Jr., was far. Hampton is 2-4 with an inflated ERA of bad blood cause another major altercation?