Maryland Assault Weapons Ban Update
The battle for the Maryland Assault Weapons Ban is heating up:
The battle over a state ban on assault weapons appears to be turning into a partisan showdown between Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
Ehrlich (R) has personally lobbied senators to kill the bill, while Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach said he wants a ban to pass.
A vote in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee had been planned for last week, but it was postponed with the vote in doubt. Freshman Sen. John A. Giannetti Jr. (D-Dist. 21) of Laurel appears to be the sole swing vote on the committee and is the target of intense lobbying from both sides.
Giannetti acknowledged calls and face-to-face meetings with Ehrlich, but said he has not decided how he will vote.
Miller made the assault weapons ban a partisan issue at the beginning of the legislative session, singling it out in a speech to Democrats in which he sought to tie the governor to former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and congressional Republicans.
He said Tuesday that he would like the General Assembly to at least keep in place the federal ban on semiautomatic Uzis, AK-47s and other assault weapons that is set to expire in September because congressional Republicans refuse to allow a vote to extend it.
My personal favorite:
“I think we should not reward [U.S. House Majority Leader] Tom DeLay and the right wing of the Republican Party, who believe that people ought to be able to bear arms at will and with the weapon of their choice,” Miller said, noting that he is a gun owner. “I don’t own assault weapons, and I don’t want them on the streets I represent.”
Well, what exactly do you think the second amendment means?
