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Ehrlich says he'd consider repealing gun laws MD.
Josey1
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Ehrlich Says He'd Review Gun Laws
By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 14, 2002; Page A01
U.S. Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) said yesterday that if elected governor he will review Maryland's strict gun laws and consider repealing two of the most far-reaching measures if they proved ineffective.
"It's time to take a look at what's passed over the last 16 years and see what's worked and what's not," he said.
The Republican nominee said he doubted that several major gun laws passed by the General Assembly had reduced gun violence. He said laws intended to regulate cheaply made handguns and make it easier to use ballistics evidence to trace handguns deserved particular scrutiny.
"If they're working, if they're actually doing what they're sold to do, then maybe we should expand them," he said. "We'll look at the evidence and try to make rational decisions. . . . But I think they've done nothing to reduce gun crimes."
Ehrlich's comments, made to reporters at his Towson campaign headquarters, were denounced by his opponent, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D), whose spokesman said any attempt to weaken the state's gun laws "defies common sense."
Ehrlich said he would consider abolishing the Handgun Roster Board, a state agency with the authority to ban certain kinds of cheaply made low-caliber handguns that are often called Saturday night specials.
He also said he wanted to review the effectiveness of a 2000 law that was designed to create a database with ballistics information on every handgun sold in the state. That law was intended to give police a tool to trace shell casings recovered from crime scenes to the original owner of a gun.
Ehrlich's statements came as the debate sharpened over an issue the Townsend campaign hopes to highlight as a critical difference between the two candidates. Maryland has long had some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, and Townsend, during her eight years in office, has consistently pushed to further restrict the sale of firearms.
"There's no need to roll back any gun laws that are on the books in this state," said Peter Hamm, a Townsend campaign spokesman. "It defies common sense. Unfortunately, it's who [Ehrlich] is. He is a supreme conservative on gun-control laws."
Two organizations that support Townsend have already begun airing political ads that attack Ehrlich's stance on firearms, with both groups targeting the Washington suburbs -- a region where polls show that many voters favor an outright ban on handguns.
A group of Baltimore ministers launched anti-Ehrlich radio commercials Thursday, painting him as a friend of "the gun lobby." The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has said it plans to spend $250,000 on radio ads that call Ehrlich an "extremist" on gun rights and an ally of the National Rifle Association. The organization first aired the commercials in June and began running them again this week.
"He's looking to roll things back, which is absolutely the NRA's agenda," said Amy Stilwell, spokeswoman for the Brady Campaign. "It's critical that these initiatives remain in effect."
Townsend has joined the chorus on the campaign trail in recent days. On Thursday in Columbia, she criticized Ehrlich's opposition to the creation of the Handgun Roster Board in 1988 when he was a member of the House of Delegates from Baltimore County.
"He voted against a ban on Saturday night specials," she said. "He doesn't understand that people can be upset with his record because of what it does to their communities. They don't like to see the deaths from Saturday night specials."
Maryland and New York are the only states with ballistics fingerprinting laws that are designed to enable police to trace shell casings recovered from crime scenes to the owner of the gun.
Ehrlich questioned whether the law -- which requires firearms manufacturers to test-fire each handgun sold and submit the shell casing to the state police -- was actually helping to solve crimes.
"Ballistics fingerprinting was sold as a great crime-fighting weapon, but we're trying to find out if it's solved one crime in Maryland," he said.
So far, it has not. Lt. Bud Frank, a spokesman for the Maryland State Police, said yesterday that investigators have matched two shell casings recovered from crime scenes to their ballistics database. But no one has been convicted or arrested as a result, he said.
Gun dealers welcomed Ehrlich's skepticism on the effectiveness of the ballistics fingerprinting law and the Handgun Roster Board.
Sanford Abrams, vice president of the Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers Association, said the roster board may have outlived its usefulness. Since 1989, the agency has banned 34 handgun models while approving more than 1,500 models for sale. Recently, however, the roster board has banned an average of only one gun a year, Abrams said.
"I think the roster board has done its job by ferreting out garbage guns," he said. "They do a decent job. They aren't bad people. . . . There's just not many junk guns on the market now."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15251-2002Sep13.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 14, 2002; Page A01
U.S. Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) said yesterday that if elected governor he will review Maryland's strict gun laws and consider repealing two of the most far-reaching measures if they proved ineffective.
"It's time to take a look at what's passed over the last 16 years and see what's worked and what's not," he said.
The Republican nominee said he doubted that several major gun laws passed by the General Assembly had reduced gun violence. He said laws intended to regulate cheaply made handguns and make it easier to use ballistics evidence to trace handguns deserved particular scrutiny.
"If they're working, if they're actually doing what they're sold to do, then maybe we should expand them," he said. "We'll look at the evidence and try to make rational decisions. . . . But I think they've done nothing to reduce gun crimes."
Ehrlich's comments, made to reporters at his Towson campaign headquarters, were denounced by his opponent, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D), whose spokesman said any attempt to weaken the state's gun laws "defies common sense."
Ehrlich said he would consider abolishing the Handgun Roster Board, a state agency with the authority to ban certain kinds of cheaply made low-caliber handguns that are often called Saturday night specials.
He also said he wanted to review the effectiveness of a 2000 law that was designed to create a database with ballistics information on every handgun sold in the state. That law was intended to give police a tool to trace shell casings recovered from crime scenes to the original owner of a gun.
Ehrlich's statements came as the debate sharpened over an issue the Townsend campaign hopes to highlight as a critical difference between the two candidates. Maryland has long had some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, and Townsend, during her eight years in office, has consistently pushed to further restrict the sale of firearms.
"There's no need to roll back any gun laws that are on the books in this state," said Peter Hamm, a Townsend campaign spokesman. "It defies common sense. Unfortunately, it's who [Ehrlich] is. He is a supreme conservative on gun-control laws."
Two organizations that support Townsend have already begun airing political ads that attack Ehrlich's stance on firearms, with both groups targeting the Washington suburbs -- a region where polls show that many voters favor an outright ban on handguns.
A group of Baltimore ministers launched anti-Ehrlich radio commercials Thursday, painting him as a friend of "the gun lobby." The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has said it plans to spend $250,000 on radio ads that call Ehrlich an "extremist" on gun rights and an ally of the National Rifle Association. The organization first aired the commercials in June and began running them again this week.
"He's looking to roll things back, which is absolutely the NRA's agenda," said Amy Stilwell, spokeswoman for the Brady Campaign. "It's critical that these initiatives remain in effect."
Townsend has joined the chorus on the campaign trail in recent days. On Thursday in Columbia, she criticized Ehrlich's opposition to the creation of the Handgun Roster Board in 1988 when he was a member of the House of Delegates from Baltimore County.
"He voted against a ban on Saturday night specials," she said. "He doesn't understand that people can be upset with his record because of what it does to their communities. They don't like to see the deaths from Saturday night specials."
Maryland and New York are the only states with ballistics fingerprinting laws that are designed to enable police to trace shell casings recovered from crime scenes to the owner of the gun.
Ehrlich questioned whether the law -- which requires firearms manufacturers to test-fire each handgun sold and submit the shell casing to the state police -- was actually helping to solve crimes.
"Ballistics fingerprinting was sold as a great crime-fighting weapon, but we're trying to find out if it's solved one crime in Maryland," he said.
So far, it has not. Lt. Bud Frank, a spokesman for the Maryland State Police, said yesterday that investigators have matched two shell casings recovered from crime scenes to their ballistics database. But no one has been convicted or arrested as a result, he said.
Gun dealers welcomed Ehrlich's skepticism on the effectiveness of the ballistics fingerprinting law and the Handgun Roster Board.
Sanford Abrams, vice president of the Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers Association, said the roster board may have outlived its usefulness. Since 1989, the agency has banned 34 handgun models while approving more than 1,500 models for sale. Recently, however, the roster board has banned an average of only one gun a year, Abrams said.
"I think the roster board has done its job by ferreting out garbage guns," he said. "They do a decent job. They aren't bad people. . . . There's just not many junk guns on the market now."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15251-2002Sep13.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
The Associated Press
9/14/02 5:28 PM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- A Republican candidate for Congress is offering campaign volunteers extra protection for their forays into immigrant neighborhoods -- escorts from the National Rifle Association.
Democrats said the offer by incumbent Rep. Robin Hayes' campaign is an insult to residents, and they held a rally Saturday.
"A representative in Congress should not be afraid of the district they represent," said Mecklenburg County Democratic Chairman John Cotham, one of about 15 people who turned up in the rain to protest.
"That's the most insulting comment I've heard a politician ever make about his constituents," he said.
In an e-mail sent Thursday to Republicans in the county about a campaign gathering, Hayes' campaign managers said volunteers need not fear.
"NRA members will cover neighborhoods that might be uncomfortable for some volunteers," the e-mail said.
Hayes campaign manager Richard Hudson later conceded the message may have been insensitive, and he said he hoped the NRA escorts would not be carrying guns.
"I could understand, going back and reading it, that it could have been worded better," Hudson said. He said the campaign's main concern is fast-moving traffic and not crime.
An aide to Hayes' Democratic opponent, Chris Kouri, said Kouri's volunteers have never had problems in Charlotte's low-to-middle income eastside neighborhoods.
"We've knocked on doors in this neighborhood," said the aide, Paul Blank. "We've had women and children go door-to-door, too."
The volunteers went without NRA escorts, he said.
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0633_BC_Candidate-NRA&&news&newsflash-national
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Townsend lashes out after Ehrlich statement on reviewing legislation
By Howard Libit
Sun Staff
Originally published September 15, 2002
Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend angrily denounced Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday for saying he would review at least two of the state's tough gun laws, setting up gun control as the first major conflict to arise in the gubernatorial campaign since last week's primary election.
"We have common-sense gun laws here in the state of Maryland and he wants to roll them back. That's wrong," Townsend told a rally of supporters as she opened her Baltimore headquarters. "We're saying to Congressman Ehrlich and your [National Rifle Association] friends, 'Stay out of Baltimore and stay out of our state.'"
Ehrlich's campaign refused to back down on his remarks yesterday, which came in answer to reporters' questions during a media briefing Friday. But a spokesman stressed that he's not seeking sweeping changes to the state's laws.
Still, Ehrlich's comments clearly energized Maryland Democrats yesterday to rally behind Townsend in a manner not evident so far in the campaign.
Joined by other Democratic elected officials, the lieutenant governor punched the air as she charged the Baltimore County congressman "is in bed with the NRA" and "is clearly showing his true colors as a conservative Republican."
Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes joined Townsend's attacks. "It's absolutely clear where most voters stand on this issue," Sarbanes said. "There's a huge effort going on on the Republican side now to flimflam the voters in the state of Maryland."
On Friday, Ehrlich said that, if elected governor, he intends to review the effectiveness of two gun-control laws approved by the General Assembly.
The two laws specifically involve the Handgun Roster Board - a panel that aims to cut down on the sale of cheaply made handguns, often called Saturday night specials - and the "ballistic fingerprint program" that seeks to help police more easily track guns used in crimes.
After gun-control advocates and Townsend's campaign pounced on Ehrlich's comments - saying they showed that his policies would make it easier for criminals to obtain guns - Ehrlich issued a statement yesterday clarifying that his primary objective is to reduce gun-related crimes.
"The crime fighting goals of the Ehrlich administration are fewer guns on the streets and fewer crimes," Ehrlich said in the statement. "Maryland currently has more than 310 separate laws and regulations governing the sale, possession and use of guns. Many work well. Some do not.
"Ineffective laws divert resources - police officers, lab technicians, investigators and money - away from our common goals," Ehrlich said.
James M. Purtilo, editor of Tripwire, a gun-rights newsletter, said yesterday that gun owners have long been skeptical of whether the ballistic fingerprint program works.
"Kathleen has to believe that Marylanders want to spend millions of dollars on a program that has never caught a criminal and has no prospects of catching a criminal, and that only has the outcome of barring the legal transfer of firearms," Purtilo said.
"I look at Bob Ehrlich's statement as being refreshingly candid about the business of governing, not the business of politicking."
An Ehrlich spokesman said the congressman has "not ever suggested that he would revisit or roll back any laws in Maryland" and does not plan to look at laws having to do with the "use, ownership, sale or purchase" of guns.
"She cannot put words in his mouth," said spokesman Paul E. Schurick. "All he said is let's make sure our resources are being spent to control crime."
Nevertheless, Townsend's campaign and Democrats seized on gun control in their effort to cut into the moderate image Ehrlich is seeking to project.
"Do not be deceived by somebody who tells you he cares about our young people staying safe but then wants more guns on our streets," state Sen. Ralph M. Hughes, a Baltimore Democrat, said at yesterday's rally.
Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan also issued a statement yesterday saying that Ehrlich's "way of thinking is out of step with voters in Montgomery County and all across Maryland."
Until now, Ehrlich has sought to downplay gun control as an issue, much as Republican gubernatorial candidate Ellen R. Sauerbrey did in 1994 and 1998.
During those campaigns, Sauerbrey said she would not seek changes to Maryland's gun laws, but Gov. Parris N. Glendening still ran ads focusing on Sauerbrey's votes opposing gun-control measures in the General Assembly.
Similarly, Democrats have been highlighting Ehrlich's votes as a delegate to the Assembly and as congressman, including one backing the repeal of a federal ban on assault weapons. Ehrlich's staff has said that his votes in support of trigger locks and background checks show a moderate record on guns.
Political observers said yesterday they were surprised Ehrlich would even suggest reviewing any of Maryland's laws, given how voters seem to feel.
In January's Maryland Poll, conducted by Potomac Survey Research for The Sun, half of all registered voters said they support banning the sale of all handguns - a far more restrictive position than anything pushed by most gun-control advocates.
"This is one of those issue areas that's a real hot button and it is going to hurt Ehrlich," said Donald F. Norris, a policy sciences professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
"Had he been able to take the position that Sauerbrey took and stick with it, he would have been able to take the issue off the table. Now he may have given her [Townsend] all she needs to be able to paint him as a conservative."
Townsend campaign officials said yesterday they have no immediate plans to make gun control a focus on television advertising, though two groups that are backing Townsend - the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance - already have begun radio ads attacking Ehrlich on guns.
But her campaign quickly took steps to ensure gun control gained more attention yesterday.
After her public appearances in Baltimore, Townsend shuffled her afternoon schedule to ensure she could travel to Montgomery County and make herself available to Washington television media to discuss gun control.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/custom/election/bal-md.guns15sep15.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
Copyright c 2002, The Baltimore Sun
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
9/15/2002
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - A Republican seeking re-election to Congress is offering campaign volunteers extra protection for their forays into immigrant neighborhoods - escorts from the National Rifle Association.
Democrats labeled the move by Rep. Robin Hayes' campaign as an insult and held a rally Saturday supporting residents.
"We've knocked on doors in this neighborhood," said Paul Blank, campaign manager for Chris Kouri, Hayes' Democratic opponent. "We've had women and children go door to door, too." The volunteers went without gun group escorts, he said.
In an e-mail sent Thursday to Mecklenburg County Republicans about a campaign gathering, Hayes' campaign managers said volunteers need not fear.
"NRA members will cover neighborhoods that might be uncomfortable for some volunteers," the e-mail said.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20020915/2038785.asp
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878