More Fallacies From The Maryland State Police Regarding Guns And Crime
Maryland –-(AmmoLand.com)- For your daily dosage of circular logic, we present the Maryland State Police’s response to the budget suggestions website that Governor O’Malley used to accept our input on the financial benefits of shall issue legislation.
It seems that Maryland, despite amongst the most restrictive laws regarding permits to carry a firearm, is still by the Superintendent’s own admission one of the most violent states in the union.
His flawed logic seems to indicate that he believes that it’s the citizens who purchase their firearms lawfully and are willing to submit to a grueling permitting process who are the ones that are the cause of our consistently high rate of violent crime.
It’s a true pity that there is such a disconnect between the political appointees that occupy senior law enforcement positions and the honorable men and women who serve on the streets who mostly understand the simple fact that it is not law abiding gun owners who cause the crime.
If these political creatures were in touch with their line officers, they would find that the vast majority of them support shall issue legislation.
Thank you for your submission to Governor Martin O’Malley with your suggestion on budget reductions for the State of Maryland. Your suggestion to make Maryland a shall issue concealed carry weapons permit State has been forwarded to my office to review for consideration.
The Maryland State Police receives on average in excess of 4,000 applications for handgun permits and renewals each year. The process takes at least 90 business days to complete. For the State to make a substantial profit and continue to pay for the program, it would have to rely on receiving several thousand new permits each year at the higher fee rate. Increasing the permit fees alone would not offset the cost to manage the program as well as provide surplus funds to the general fund. Raising the fee to guarantee substantial profits could prevent the permit for someone who truly has a good and substantial reason.
Maryland is one of the most violent states in the country due to gun violence. Shall issue laws would provide for more firearms on the streets and could impact public safety. Firearm sales in Maryland alone have increased over 200% since January of 2009.
The Maryland General Assembly has considered wear and carry legislation for years. Each year the legislation fails to pass out of committee.
Again, thank you for your email to Governor O’Malley.
Sincerely,
Terrence B. Sheridan
Superintendent
About:
Maryland Shall Issue is an all volunteer, non-partisan effort dedicated to the preservation and advancement of all gun owners’ rights in Maryland, with a primary goal of CCW reform to allow all law-abiding citizens the right to carry a concealed weapon; and to the education of the community to the awareness that ’shall issue’ laws have, in all cases, resulted in decreased rates of violent crime.”
To tonyspdx: We're trying. Unfortunately, this particular individual is voted into power by an overwhelmingly democratic county. The vast majority of us who are aware of his shenanigans do not live in his county, and therfore do not get to vote one way or another on his tenure in office. As such, we get the effect of his obstinance, but have no input on its cause. The best part about it is that the man is a criminal defense lawyer. He does his part to keep his clients out on the street at the same time as doing everything he… Read more »
Every knows that gun crime in America is caused by the second amendment, aided and abetted by organizations like the nra.
So lets prove Alex wrong and buy even more guns this year!
You change the politician, you change the law. Its realy that simple.
This article is a blatant advertisement of the raw arrogance of the Maryland State House in Annapolis. They seem to "know better" than the state legislators in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Delaware, just to name Md's immediate neighbors, who acknowledge that their citizens are mature enough to concealed carry safely! May I suggest that if you live in Maryland, that you support Marylanders for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership here: myguns.org. Change the composition of the State House. If your representative has been in power for over 4 years, consider changing him or her! Here's how you… Read more »
The reason the "wear and carry" bill does not pass the committee every year is due to our judicial committee's chairman's refusal to allow it to come to a vote.
The other members of the committee do not even vote on it because they know that one man, Brian Frosh, will block its passage out of committee even if they do vote for it.
…And the messed up thing about Maryland politics, is yes, 1 man does have the power to block the bill.