(March 14, 2004)
1. EXPECT GUNS TO BE MUCH IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK. Tuesday is "gun day" in the House Judiciary, when a host of bills (both good and bad) will be heard by committee. This is gun grabbers' next big chance to rant and rave over things they call "assault weapons" (though we know the bills' scope would ban nearly all semi-auto firearms.)

At this time we look for all gun bills to languish. A majority of Delegates in the House may favor banning most guns, but House leadership is taking its cues from Senate action, where the high profile semiauto ban is bottled up. Leaders know it is bad political tactics to put their people on record with a vote for a controversial bill that isn't going anywhere. If that's leadership's belief, then our mission for this week is not to change their calculus. Let's not rock the boat and make it worth their while to put a gun ban back on the fast track.

So ... What about those Senate gun bills? When it became clear a slim majority of Senators on Judicial Proceedings Committee opposed the semi-auto ban, JPR's chairman tabled the bill rather than allow it to suffer an outright defeat. He gave time for gun grabbers to hunt for alternate ways to get a gun bill on the Senate floor, where they believed a majority of would vote for the ban.

The greediest gun-grabber of them all, Senator Rob Garagiola, thought he found such a way, and submitted two new gun bills, one banning assault weapons from polling places and the other demanding a "user fee" (tax) from owners of semi- auto firearms. In this way, he might get a bill to the floor by routing it to another committee.

Some Senators might dislike guns, but more Senators dislike a challenge to the committee system or even leadership itself. That is what Garagiola clearly does by laying down the gauntlet in clever attempts to by-pass JPR. At the time of this writing, his bills remain in a Rules committee where we are hopeful that a majority of Senators will close ranks to insist that if gun grabbers want our rights, they should at least grab them according to the rules. Anything else is blatant anarchy. (You know ... kind of like the days of Parris Glendening.)

2. ACTION ITEM: If guns will be so much in the news this week, make sure YOUR own legislators see a balanced picture of community interests. Unlike all of our previous alerts - where we focused you on specific committee members - now is the time for all officials to hear from freedom-loving constituents. If your Delegates or Senator are on a key committee, tell them again to vote NO on new gun control; ask the rest to contact their colleagues on JPR or JUD and to give them the same message: no new gun control! Be polite, keep your message simple and make sure it goes in during the week of 15 March. (Details on how to find legislator contact information are at www.myguns.net)

3. MPFO'S LATEST FUND RAISER IS DEDICATED TO POLITICAL PAY BACK: Marylanders for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (MPFO) has launched a fund raiser with all proceeds dedicated to the ouster of any legislator who promoted the assault weapon bans in Annapolis. We have a lot of payback to deliver, so we have a lot of raffle tickets to sell! Win an AR-15 tactical carbine (what gun- banners would call an "assault weapon" ... with attitude, we might add!) for a $5 donation. Details at www.myguns.net