(July 2003) In obvious coordination with anti-gun advocacy groups, Annapolis Alderwoman Cynthia Carter launched the latest assault on our community: a ban on toy guns. Proponents say this law would let police charge someone with an additional crime if they are caught having used a toy gun to commit some other felony.

Apparently Carter and her playmates don't actually want to get tough with real crime. The justice system might more reasonably elect to get tough on the base felony in the first place, but that would not serve the true end sought by such social scientists as Carter - extinction of a culture of lawful gun ownership. Modern era segregationists don't want kids to grow up thinking gun handling is anything but bad, so they promote a toy gun ban disguised as some sort of public safety measure, saying they'll only apply it when needed. When is that? They'll know it when they see it.

Officials claim they won't devote resources to a blanket enforcement of the ban, but that fails a sniff test: why would a society pass laws it doesn't intend to enforce? Historically, most unreasonable restrictions began under the banner of focused examples. Infringement of our right to carry started with laws prohibiting 'the wrong element' from carrying guns, laws that now deny rights to all except Maryland's ruling elite. Police who say today they won't misapply a toy gun ban become tomorrow's officials shaking their heads disclaiming that they must enforce laws on the books.

Good people died last year when Montgomery County responded to its sniper crisis by targeting honest gun owners instead of real criminals - police were so taxed with enforcing social prejudices that they weren't answering the phone when the real snipers tried in vain to contact them directly. How many people will die in a new wave of violence while police busily track toy guns instead of thugs? The cost of social experiments like Carter's can be very, very high indeed.