Tough Gun Bill Gains in Maryland

Emboldened by a spate of violence committed on school campuses and growing public pressure for gun control, the Maryland General Assembly moved Friday toward enacting the nation’s first state law requiring internal locks on all newly purchased handguns.

Similar to a statute enacted last August in California, the Maryland bill would be one of the toughest in the nation, enforcing external locks on all new guns sold in the state by this October.

But an unprecedented provision of the Maryland law would order weapon manufacturers within three years to provide internal locks on all new handguns sold--a first step toward mandating “smart gun” technology to give owners sole control over their guns.

Passage Likely Next Week

Passed last week by the Maryland Senate, the gun-lock measure weathered a grueling five-hour session of debate and at least a dozen amendments Friday by the state House of Delegates’ Judiciary Committee. The action primes the law for expected passage next week in the full House, where Democrats outnumber Republicans, 106 to 35.

Gun-control advocates hailed the bill’s progress Friday as evidence of a change in the nation’s political climate, auguring a wave of innovative laws using technology to restrict gun use. A similar law is being debated in New Jersey, and another component of the Maryland law--forcing gun makers to provide police with shell casings from each sold gun for use as possible evidence--is being sought by New York Gov. George Pataki.

“We think this paves the way for other states to push for smart-gun technology,” said Eric Gally, lobbyist for Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse.

Victory for Maryland Governor

The 14-7 committee vote was an outright victory for two-term Democratic Gov. Parris Glendening, who has made the gun-lock measure the centerpiece of his legislative agenda. Aides to Glendening said that governors from at least five states have expressed “keen interest” in the fate of Maryland’s bill.

Glendening, who was mocked in recent days by a National Rifle Assn. television spot that showed him fumbling to unlock a handgun, declared late Friday that “the vicious attacks and extremist agenda of the NRA is not part of Maryland’s agenda.”

The House committee, Glendening said, sent a strong message that “Maryland will stand up to the NRA and do what is necessary to protect our children from gun violence.”

Glendening became the lightning rod in recent days for a massive phone and computer-mail campaign by the NRA and many of its 50,000 members in the state. Since midweek, the gun lobby has run TV ads showing Glendening laughing with embarrassment as he failed to remove a magazine catch on a .40-caliber Glock during a recent appearance publicizing his gun-lock initiative.

The gun group’s scorn for Glendening surfaced again during Friday’s hearing. Jeff Reh, the NRA’s general counsel, icily described Glendening’s difficulties with the Glock as “the biggest public relations disaster since someone asked O.J. Simpson to put on a glove.”

“The governor’s a smart man,” said Jim Manown, a national NRA spokesman. “But even he had trouble using a gun lock. The point is that this technology is not that easy to use--and if you can’t use it well, it’s not that great of a safeguard.”

Maryland’s gun clubs and pro-gun lobbyists have been a formidable force here since 1970, when a well-funded NRA media campaign helped unseat U.S. Sen. Joseph Tydings, who had staked his career on his reputation as a sponsor of national gun-control legislation.

“The NRA just doesn’t have the same clout anymore,” said lobbyist and former Gov. Marvin Mandel, who fought repeatedly with the gun group during the mid-1970s.

Glendening and his allies in the Democrat-dominated Legislature say the landscape has shifted dramatically, particularly in the last year, after a rash of tragic crimes involving gun-wielding youths. Glendening aides point to the April 1999 school massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and the fatal shooting this year of a 6-year-old at a Michigan elementary school.

The recent decision by Smith & Wesson to install smart-gun technology as protection against government lawsuits also led some Maryland legislators to conclude that gun rights groups have failed to keep pace with a public grown weary of violence.

Despite the NRA’s “hand-wringing” about the lack of progress on smart-gun technology, Smith & Wesson’s promise to deliver a programmable gun within three years “exactly matches what the governor believes will be available by then,” said Michael Morrill, Glendening’s spokesman.

The governor’s proposal originally had attempted to force Maryland gun dealers to sell guns equipped with personalized mechanisms that only its owners could operate. But that strict smart-gun element was dropped last week as a compromise to help assure passage of the state Senate’s measure.

Although the bill lost its smart-gun requirement, Morrill said that once the law is in effect, “we will try to update it as soon as better technology is available.”

“It’s clear,” said House Speaker Caspar R. Taylor, a Democratic legislator from western Maryland’s hilly hunting country, “that the entire country now sees gun violence as a top priority.”

NRA officials seemed resigned to defeat as they urged House members to kill the gun-lock bill in committee or amend its wording to force the measure back to the state Senate for more debate.

“If we’re going to do this bill, all we ask is that we do this right,” said NRA lobbyist Greg Costa. He argued that even if the state requires locks on all handguns, “there will still be accidents and still be guns stolen as implements of crime.” The bill could “stand up to an amendment or two,” Costa said.

Advocates Fear GOP Filibuster

But Glendening’s allies on the committee spurned amendments that would have altered the bill. Any amendment, they said, would leave the bill prey to a Republican filibuster in the state Senate, where opponents vowed to weaken it or kill it outright.

Along with its provisions requiring locks, the Maryland law would also break ground by requiring gun manufacturers to provide police with a spent shell casing fired from every gun sold in the state. The shell casing could help identify a gun if it is used in a crime, although NRA officials warned Friday that it might not be admissible in courts.

The law would also bar anyone who has had a juvenile criminal record from buying any firearms until the age of 30--a move that the NRA insists could infringe on the confidentiality of expunged records. And another section would require at least two hours of training for new handgun buyers.