(April 2003) One of the major issues under consideration this session was a so-called "Project Exile." But as always the devil is in the details. There were actually two other bills bearing this name beside's the administration's proposal. But none of these bills had anything besides the title in common with the Exile as supported and promoted by the NRA in its Richmond, VA, program.

The administration's bill was entirely based on gun possession, not misuse. Instead of sending violent thugs "into exile" - away, into a federal program - it would expand the scope of state prohibitions on gun possession, so more people would be considered 'gun criminals.' In some cases people whose sole disabling offense was a non-violent misdemeanor would get two years mandatory jail without parole. This fuels social experiments such as those of Montgomery County State's Attorney Doug Gansler, whose aggressive witch hunt is now jailing gun owners based on the 'sniper' tips from last fall. As such, the administration's Exile would divert resources away from public safety programs that work, and expand the number of gun owners at risk from Gansler's jihad.

[All citizens suffer when funds for real public safety programs go instead to unsound social experiments. We saw this last year. Good people died in Montgomery County because police were so driven to hound gun owners they had no resources to process phone tips in a timely way, where the actual snipers were trying to make contact.]

Laws should be considered based on how they will be applied, not on how they sound in campaigns. We opposed the administration bill for this reason. (In fact, anyone who thinks this bill resembled the NRA signature program of the same name should ask the NRA why it did not publicly lobby for its passage.) Ironically the Ehrlich bill would give mandatory jail time for any firearm possession to people who may never have served a day in jail for the non-violent offense which disabled them in the first place - and who may not even realize they are disabled.

A serious problem with this bill is the awkward political position in which it places our legislative friends. Ehrlich's bill expands provisions of gun control first enacted by Parris Glendening, and strengthens penalties for other parts of Glendening's package. Pro-gun Delegates and Senators fought Glendening's gun control and voted against it. By co-sponsoring Ehrlich's bill, many such legislators are now on record supporting those gun control measures they previously opposed. This flip seriously exposes pro-gun legislators to challenge in 2006 elections.

Most legislators co-sponsored Ehrlich's Exile simply because he asked them to. Only later did many discover the bill's horrible problems, introduced by shoddy drafting and utter refusal to accept input from the community. (Bill language repairs were provided to Ehrlich staff, but never adopted, for reasons known only to the administration.) Some legislators knew the likely real goal: money. Enacting something called Exile would let Team Ehrlich apply for federal funds under Project Safe Neighborhood, while claiming victory on fulfilling a campaign promise.