(April 2, 2004)

UNFAVORABLE REPORT ON PROPOSED ASSAULT WEAPON BAN IS TRIUMPH FOR INFORMED PUBLIC

Today's 6-5 defeat in Senate JPR of SB 288 - the proposed ban on so-called "assault weapons" - signals that an informed public really can protect safety and policy from becoming prey to outside special interests.

The Brady Campaign and its paid advocates came to town intent on dining on the rights all Marylanders, but they forgot "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered." These special interests got too greedy asking for more gun control hard on the heels of Paris Glendening's omnibus package in 2000, a suite of restrictions served up solely to stage a photo-op with then-President Bill Clinton.

Shrill Brady demands fell on the ears of legislators whose constituents already remind them of how badly the last round of restrictions have failed. The same Brady advocates asking for bans this year are the ones who in 2000 promised immediate results from ballistic fingerprinting last term - the program that has yet to solve a single crime after millions of tax dollars spent, for example.

The proponents' web of lies surrounding SB 288 further ensnared prospects for the bill's passage. Their claim of safety benefits from the federal ban could not be supported, and they further undermined their own credibility by claims of credentials and expertise that were equally weak. It wasn't long before pols quietly edged away from a proposal they once thought was a no-brainer.

In the end, legislators knew the facts because of the efforts of their informed constituents - a triumph of grassroots involvement over gun-grabbing special interests.