Maryland Panel Bans 2 Guns, OKs 627 Other Weapon Models

A state panel set up last year under a first-in-the-nation gun control law aimed at ridding Maryland of “Saturday night specials” has banned two weapons and approved 627.

An additional 34 pistols, including several small, two-shot Derringers, have been tentatively rejected for sale or manufacture in Maryland by the Handgun Roster Board.

The approved list includes a semi-automatic Uzi pistol from Israel and the Glock 17 from Austria that has some plastic parts that don’t show up on airport X-rays.

Among other weapons approved are all handguns made by major manufacturers such as Colt and Smith & Wesson, as well as handguns approved for importation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

“The people who were advocates of the law may be disappointed that more guns weren’t excluded from the list,” said Simon Atlas, a board member. “But that’s the way the law is written. Certainly, the worst fears the National Rifle Assn. had have been laid to rest.”

The NRA vigorously opposed the law last year when it was before the Legislature. Among those who campaigned for the law were Sarah Brady, wife of former presidential Press Secretary James S. Brady, who was shot and wounded along with former President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

The law makes it illegal beginning in 1990 to sell or manufacture handguns in Maryland not approved by the nine-member board of gubernatorial appointees. Guns made before 1985 are excluded from the ban.

Under law, the panel must consider nine criteria in weighing a particular weapon, including concealability, accuracy and quality, to weed out Saturday night specials--the small, cheap, low-caliber handguns often used in street crimes.

The two weapons formally banned are .25-caliber and .32-caliber guns made by the L. W. Seecamp Co. of New Haven, Conn. The company no longer makes the .25-caliber model. The .32-caliber gun, only 4 1/8 inches long, was not considered safe enough to meet the requirements of the handgun law.