The General Assembly behaved exactly we predicted, with political gamesmanship never far from the surface. Hardliners on the left agitated aggressively for outrageous new gun control. No surprise, the loudest such demands came from the Montgomery County delegation, still smarting from having made last year's gubernatorial election a referendum on gun control, which they lost. They've already written their campaign literature for 2006 elections, and this year whipped their colleagues to make it come true. Their strategy is simple: put as much gun control as possible on Governor Ehrlich's desk. Either he signs it (and they get our guns) or he vetoes it (and they get fuel for a scare-mongering propaganda machine.)

Their strategy didn't work this year. Gun bills remained bottled up. But the message is clear: we have our work cut out for us for the next four years.