Gun Control Advocates Block Bill in Md. House

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 21, 2002; Page B04

Maryland lawmakers who backed a plan to expand access to firearms said they will withdraw that proposal today rather than wade into a wide-ranging gun control debate on the House floor.

The Maryland House of Delegates was preparing to vote today on a provision intended to clarify whether someone with a relatively minor criminal conviction, from a decade earlier, could regain the right to own a gun. But this week, gun control advocates threatened to use the measure to pry open debate on some of their proposals.

The decision to withdraw the bill, reached late yesterday, was the latest contortion by legislative leaders seeking to avoid a divisive, election year battle over gun control. The issue has been effectively erased from the General Assembly agenda since members convened in January.

"I think leadership will do anything to prevent a long, controversial discussion on gun control," said Del. Mark K. Shriver (D-Montgomery), who had threatened to force deliberation of broader gun questions. "I think it's a debate we need to be having, and it's unfortunate that we're not."

An array of gun control proposals have met defeat in recent weeks, including bills that would require gun owners to obtain a license, report stolen handguns within 48 hours and attend a comprehensive safety course.

House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. (D-Allegany) and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Prince George's) said yesterday that they have no intention of pursuing gun control measures this year.

"We're already substantially ahead of a large part of the country," Taylor said.

In the past eight years, the General Assembly has passed an assault rifle ban and limited handgun buyers to one purchase a month. Two years ago, the state enacted hotly debated legislation offered by Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) that requires all firearms sold in Maryland to include trigger locks. That was enough, Miller said.

"I think we've gone past moderation," Miller said yesterday. "We are not a moderate state. I think the governor recognized, when we got that last bill passed, that he wasn't going to revisit this issue during his term, and neither will the General Assembly."

So the debate on guns was supposed to have ended for the year, until last week, when the House Judiciary Committee approved House Bill 1367, an obscure provision offered by Del. Kevin Kelly (D-Allegany).

Kelly said the bill would address confusion growing out of an attorney general's ruling that barred anyone convicted of a crime punishable by two years or more in prison from owning a gun. The ruling applied to people convicted of some misdemeanors as well as many felonies.

"This was a sensible bill, that just protected those people who had a minor misdemeanor . . . who wanted to keep ahold of a gun," Kelly said. But gun control advocates spotted the bill and sounded alarms.

Eric Gally, a lobbyist for Marylanders Against Handguns, said his group had agreed not to press gun control bills with the understanding that the General Assembly would pass no legislation expanding access to firearms. "If we're going to vote on any gun bill, we'll vote on all of them," Gally said.

With the Kelly bill due for a vote on the House floor this week, Shriver received an opinion from Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. (D) that the bill could be amended to include any of a number of broad gun control measures.

He drafted several amendments, including one that would require guns owners to receive a special license, much like a driver's license, and another that would make it easier to convict an adult who leaves a firearm within reach of a child.

Shriver's amendments could have forced a rancorous floor debate on gun control, House leaders said.

Shriver said the decision to withdraw the bill from consideration -- effectively killing it -- was a victory for gun control advocates, even if the session ends without debate on other measures.

"Letting felons own guns was not good policy," Shriver said. "I'm sorry not to have this debate, but if we've beaten back a bad piece of legislation, that's an accomplishment."