If I were to make the statement that Governor Martin O’Malley has made decisions in line with Republican values I would be stoned to death. Because his attempts to abolish the death penalty are resurfacing during the 2013 legislative session along with legislation to put stiffer regulations on guns, one might say that it is right in line with his liberal leadership. However, would you be surprised to learn that O’Malley has cut thousands of jobs from the state government shrinking its size? How about the fact that he cut projected spending during several different sessions to the tune of billions of dollars?
You may not hear about it on television because it could be viewed as bad politics to take jobs away during a recession or to celebrate the cuts when those affected rely on the bureaucracy to function. One gets the sense that O’Malley’s time in Annapolis has set the stage for something beyond the governor’s mansion in the future.
O’Malley has certainly had his share of contentious issues. This year is no exception. Riding on the national events at Newtown, CT, O’Malley has introduced legislation (SB 281) in Maryland that would put stiffer regulations on gun owners and require training for gun owners. (From SB 281) FOR the purpose of altering the authorization for a person to wear, carry, or transport a handgun to be within certain limitations; designating certain firearms as assault weapons; prohibiting, with certain exceptions, a person from transporting an assault weapon into the State or possessing, selling, offering to sell, transferring, purchasing, or receiving an assault weapon; authorizing certain licensed firearms dealers to continue to possess, sell, offer for sale, or transfer assault long guns or copycat weapons under certain circumstances; authorizing certain persons to continue to possess assault long guns or copycat weapons under certain circumstances; altering the maximum capacity of rounds of ammunition allowable to be manufactured, sold, offered for sale, purchased, received, or transferred for a firearm; making it a misdemeanor to use an assault long gun or a copycat weapon or a magazine that exceeds a certain maximum capacity of rounds of ammunition in the commission of a felony or a crime of violence; requiring a certain hearing officer, after making a certain determination, to order certain individuals to surrender firearms in the individual’s possession under certain circumstances; prohibiting a certain person from selling, purchasing, renting, transferring, or receiving a certain regulated firearm unless the person presents or possesses a certain handgun qualification license issued by the Secretary of State Police; establishing certain requirements and procedures for the issuance and renewal of a certain handgun qualification license; authorizing the Secretary to revoke a certain handgun qualification license under certain circumstances; requiring a certain person to return a certain handgun qualification license under certain circumstances; requiring certain fees; requiring a certain licensee or designated law enforcement agency to transfer a certain firearm application to the Secretary in an electronic format; ETC, ETC.
Last Friday legislators met and introduced bills that would soften the
