Maryland Bans Dozens of Types of Handguns

Maryland on Monday approved regulations creating the most restrictive ban on handguns of any state, effectively outlawing the sale and manufacture of dozens of weapons beginning Jan. 1.

The action marks an end to a battle waged for nearly a year by gun makers who demanded that their weapons be exempted from the controversial law designed to eliminate so-called Saturday Night Specials from gun dealers’ shelves.

Although a task force appointed by Gov. William Donald Schaefer granted permission for the continued sale of 677 different models of handguns, its final list of approved weapons omitted an estimated 100 others, including the snub-nosed pistols regarded by gun-control advocates as the most notorious for criminal use.

Activists on both sides of the issue said the regulations--developed as a result of the first statewide gun control referendum ever passed by voters--clearly establishes Maryland as the state with the most stringent laws controlling the sale of handguns.

Only four other states ban handguns in any manner, and their laws are generally regarded as ineffectual. California’s new legislation banning assault guns extends to just nine semiautomatic handguns.

The Maryland referendum, which passed in November, 1988, defined Saturday Night Specials by such characteristics as concealability and inaccuracy and gave the governor the authority to appoint the task force that drew up the regulations.

Bernie Horn, state legislative director for Handgun Control Inc., said of the new rules: “This is terrific. As far as we’re concerned, beginning Jan. 1, there will be no Saturday Night Specials sold in the state of Maryland.”

Although conceding that the practical effect of the Maryland law would be unprecedented, a top official of the National Rifle Assn. contended that the state’s experience over the past year had demonstrated only the “futility” of trying to identify and ban Saturday Night Specials.

Richard E. Gardiner, the NRA’s director of state and local affairs, noted that the majority of the weapons to be banned under the Maryland law were outlawed only because their manufacturers never submitted petitions asking that they be approved.

Of the more than 700 weapons evaluated by the Maryland task force, he pointed out, the panel actually voted to reject only seven as serving no legitimate social purpose. Another 24 became subject to the ban when the panel decided Monday to defer decisions until next year about whether to add them to the approved list.

“Virtually every gun that was considered has been approved,” Gardiner said. “This demonstrates pretty clearly what we have said all along--there is no such thing as a Saturday Night Special.”

At the heart of the dispute were conflicting explanations for the decisions by dozens of handgun manufacturers not to submit their weapons to the task force for evaluation, thereby abandoning the prospect of future sales in Maryland.

Gun dealers will be subject to fines up to $2,500 for selling guns that have been banned.

Gardiner, the NRA official, attributed the gun makers’ inaction to a judgment that the new Maryland process imposed too onerous an “administrative burden.” The gun control advocates, however, argued that the manufacturers stayed clear of the review because they knew their weapons--described by state police Supt. Elmer Tippett as “pieces of junk”--could never win the panel’s approval.

“We really don’t care whether they vote no on something or never vote at all,” said Horn, of Handgun Control. “The result is the greatest effect on handguns of anything we’ve seen.”

Schaefer, who championed the controversial referendum against the vehement objections of the NRA and its multimillion-dollar campaign against it, issued a statement saying that “Marylanders should be proud” of the handgun-review process.

“I believe our state will be a safer place to live because we have taken the time to consider these guns and their use,” Schaefer said.

The final roster of handguns approved for sale in Maryland after Jan. 1 includes 677 weapons--a factor Schaefer noted in saying that the regulation had caused “no great financial hardship or inconvenience to our law-abiding citizens.”

Although the task force kept just 31 types of weapons off the approved list, gun experts said the total number of handguns affected was likely to be at least several times that because of the many manufacturers who never petitioned for their weapons’ approval.

Although expressing delight at the far-reaching nature of the final Maryland regulations, gun control advocates acknowledged that their hopes for further handgun control legislation nationwide had dimmed considerably since Maryland’s voters approved the referendum in a 58%-42% upset a year ago.

The advocates could point to no state in which similar legislation was even under consideration, and said they had switched their focus from handguns to assault weapons.

“It’s impossible to win on more than one gun bill at a time,” one gun control lobbyist said.