Supporters of a proposed ban on military-style assault weapons tried to rally support Tuesday from a Senate committee, but their arguments gained little ground in the face of throngs of opponents and the lack of law enforcement statistics on the effectiveness of such a ban.
Senators questioned representatives from the Maryland State Police and Howard County Police Chief William McMahon about the number of crimes committed using military-style assault weapons. Neither group said they kept those statistics because the FBI?s uniform crime reports do not make such detailed distinctions among guns.
“Anecdotally in Howard County, I can tell you we do come across these weapons in investigations we know they?ve been used in bank robberies,” McMahon said. “I know we?ve been shot at by assault weapons.”
Sen. Jim Robey, D-Howard County, former county executive and a 32-year police department veteran, said “I?m not an anti-gun person. I understand the rights of those who want to carry guns, but there?s no place in our civil society for these guns.”
Sen. Mike Lenett, D-Montgomery, said a ban would protect police and the public by reducing the number of assault-style weapons available on the black market. Repeated references were made to the 2002 sniper attacks, when two men armed with assault-style rifles terrorized the Washington suburbs for weeks.
Gov. Martin O?Malley,who submitted written testimony supporting the ban, cited statistics from a recent Ceasefire Maryland survey that said “one assault rifle is traced back to a Maryland crime every 48 hours.”
Recreational shooters from across Maryland packed the committee hearing room. In written testimony, Wendy Donahoo, president of the Maryland Sportsmen?s Association, said the bill “is another gun ban that unfairly targets and incorrectly singles out groups of taxpaying Maryland citizens and their lifestyles.”
