(September 1, 1999) We've made reference to TAG in recent newsletters, and some of our newer readers have asked for background on it. (Good!) TAG is one of the ways police are "getting tough on crime," the highway's equivalent of stop'n'frisk. We have tracked several cases where an individual's first encounter with the law is at a traffic stop, at which a technical firearm violation leads to his disqualification for owning firearms ever again. This can happen anywhere in the state, but nowhere is it more likely than in Prince George's County. There you may meet TAG -- Take Away Guns.

Unlike in Anne Arundel County, where we have credible reports of police setting up traffic operations just outside of gun ranges, TAG works with the University of Maryland to identify "hot spots," corridors over which likely targets may travel with guns. Officers then profile drivers and make traffic stops for whatever reason is open to them (e.g., failure to use seatbelt.) They do a computer check of occupants, then find a reason to search the car. (Initially they will simply ask for permission, but if a motorist declines, the officer will seek other reasons for a complete search.)

What happens if a motorist admits to transporting a gun or one is found during an involuntary search? A spokesman for the PG County Public Information Office says the firearm's identifying information is immediately recorded, and then run through a computer check to see whether it is stolen. What happens then is up to the officer on the scene. A gun that can be tied to the driver (via the State Police firearms registration database) and transported in what may be lawful circumstances (to or from the range) may be returned to the driver, who can be sent on his way with a ticket.

But what if you have a lawfully owned handgun, legally transported, that isn't tied to you by the State Police? This is entirely possible, since many of us own firearms from the days before private transfer was banned. According to spokesman Cpl. Meterko, at that point the officer is free to confiscate any firearm that he doesn't believe you should have. I asked him whether any are returned; apparently this doesn't happen. "If we take it, we're going to keep it."

As with most such programs, TAG has yielded successes even as it raised red flags to civil libertarians. In 1998, it records 33,601 traffic stops, 12,402 issued citations, 77 DWI arrests, 351 criminal arrests and 29 seized guns.