Observations and Reflections on Legislative Activities
By Delegate Mike McDermott
Update on House Joint Hearing on HB-294 (Gun Bill)
By Delegate Mike McDermott
(Annapolis) The House Joint Hearing on HB-294, the Governor’s Gun Bill, continues on into the night and is passing 8-hours of testimony at the time of this writing. Well over a thousand signed up to testify against this bill and only a very few testified in favor of the bill. In fact, except for the “professional” panels that came in support of the governor (about 20 people), everyone else has been opposed.
We have heard from retirees and 10-year olds, people in
suits and people in working uniforms, people of great means and people of lesser means, people from Worcester and people from Prince George…all in all, we have heard from Maryland and they do not want this bill passed.
There have been a few good exchanges with some of those who
have come in to testify. The governor skated today and did not respond to questions as he had surrounded himself with a large panel providing insulation and the right questions were not asked.
The Speaker and Chairmen running the joint committee simply did not allow many questions and he quickly escaped out of the chamber and away from questions.As of 8:00pm, there were still over 600 hanging around to
testify against the bill. Sheriff Lewis joined several other Sheriff’s from around the state and provided passionate testimony before the committee in defense of the 2nd Amendment. In fact, we heard from many in law enforcement who stood with the people’s right to defend themselves as they see fit.
We heard from Beretta Arms who strongly indicated that they
would look seriously at moving from Southern Maryland to another state. This echoes what we have heard from other manufacturers of firearms in Maryland. Beretta alone would mean over $400 million to our state coffers.
It was nice to see Worcester State’s Attorney Beau Oglesby
in attendance as well. It seems the only support the bill had was from inside the beltway. We will be going well into the early morning hours and may well need to come back later in the day on Saturday to insure that every Marylander who wishes to be heard on this issue is heard.
