• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

Washington Times EDITORIAL: Gun owners in cross hairs

Joined
Jun 21, 2009
Messages
2,381
Location
across Death's Door on Washington Island, Wisconsi
imported post

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/12/gun-owners-in-the-cross-hairs/?feat=home_headlines

The gun grabbers are at it again in Maryland. Next month, the state's House Judiciary Committee will initiate hearings on legislation forcing firearms enthusiasts to register with the state government before they can exercise their Second Amendment rights.

The plan, drafted by Delegate Samuel I. Rosenberg, Baltimore Democrat, and Sen. Brian E. Frosh, Montgomery County Democrat, would mandate that citizens carry a special license while conducting any number of routine transactions involving a gun.

To obtain a gun license, a person must fill out a long application form, attend a comprehensive firearms safety course, pay a nonrefundable fee to the state and wait 30 days for the completion of a criminal background check. If all items are processed properly, the Maryland State Police would drop the license in the mail.

It would become a crime to go to a gun range and rent a firearm for a little target shooting without this license in hand. Out-of-state visitors who might want to keep up their skills while on vacation would be out of luck under the proposal because they would not even be allowed to apply for a state gun license.

The bill would make it a crime on par with murder, kidnapping, rape and extortion for a private party to sell his own gun to someone who has no license. It also would give police the authority to seize the e-mail, cell phone and other records of anyone merely suspected of selling or renting a gun in Maryland without a license. This is an extreme reaction to conduct that is perfectly legal in most states and should be a constitutional right anywhere in the Land of the Free.

It's obvious that Mr. Rosenberg and Mr. Frosh are not really interested in stopping criminals from obtaining weapons. Instead, this misguided proposal plainly is designed to harass legitimate gun owners with bureaucracy and paperwork until they simply give up on the idea of exercising their legal rights. Readers should let the measure's proponents know what they think. Mr. Frosh is available at 301/ 858-3102, brian.frosh@senate.state.md.us, and Mr. Rosenberg can be reached at 301/858-3179, samuel.rosenberg@ house.state.md.us.
 

Dreamer

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
5,360
Location
Grennsboro NC
imported post

I'm wondering how this bill will effect transport of a firearm into or through MD by non-residents? Judging by this article, I couldn't even take my gun to MD for use on a range there without one of their permits (which I can't get as a non-resident).

This bill sounds like it's just a back-door way to expand the already oppressive laws regarding transport and purchase in MD, and perhaps a way to circumvent the potential of the CC Reciprocity Bill if it passes...

The people of MD need to wake up. Their government is criminal, and about 99% of them need to be fired and replaced come next election...
 

Sig229

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2006
Messages
926
Location
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
imported post

Im convinced, Maryland's state legislators are borderline retarded.

For any Maryland members here, wake the F up.

Stop finding excused as to why you cant move out of MD and just get up and do it.

Yeah, your wife will throw a childish fit, your mother in law will call you horrible names.

But isnt it worth it to live in a state where you actually have freedom?

Be men and live somewhere that actually lets you live as an American.
 

Sonora Rebel

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2008
Messages
3,956
Location
Gone
imported post

Another attempt to isolate Maryland from the rest of the nation in continuance of the myopic fiefdom of xenophobes the state has become.

Sig 229 is right... and I echo his advice to anyone in Maryland who values their freedom. Get theF out! Don't talk about it... 'do it'! I still know folks there who've been 'talking' for years 'n they're still there.

'McDonald' vs Chicago and 'Palmer'vs DC has the MD GAscared witless. This is a pre-emptive reaction to it. Totally unconstitutional. MD has no enumerated right to bear arms in it's state Constitution (deliberate omission in 1867 and a direct extension of Jim Crow)... therefore the USC 2A applies. Sclaia wrote what 'arms' are... 'n Ginsburg (of all people) defined 'to bear arms' for once and for all.

Regardless of the obvious... Rosenburg and Frosh have connived yet another ill-considered attack on a basic civil right enumrated by the USC. People like this should be arrested for sedition.

“The general misconception is that any statute passed by legislators bearing the appearance of law constitutes the law of the land. The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land, and any statue, to be valid, must be in agreement. It is impossible for both the Constitution and a law violating it to be valid; one must prevail. This is succinctly stated as follows:

The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it.

An unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed. Such a statute leaves the question that it purports to settle just as it would be had the statute not been enacted.”

“Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principals follow that it imposes no duties, confers no rights, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection, and justifies no acts performed under it..

A void act cannot be legally consistent with a valid one.

An unconstitutional law cannot operate to supersede any existing valid law.

Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the land, it is superseded thereby.

No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.” Sixteenth American Jurisprudence, Second Edition, Section 177. (late 2nd Ed. Section 256)
 

Slidell Jim

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2009
Messages
177
Location
Slidell, La
imported post

Dreamer wrote:
SNIP

This bill sounds like it's just a back-door way to expand the already oppressive laws
"The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."
- Civ IV
 

virginiatuck

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2009
Messages
787
Location
Loudoun County, Virginia, USA
imported post

Slidell Jim wrote:
Dreamer wrote:
SNIP

This bill sounds like it's just a back-door way to expand the already oppressive laws
"The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."
- Civ IV
Several sources attribute this to Oscar Wilde.

I think the original quote was "The bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy." Sadly, I have found no reputable Internet sources that confirm it or even the writing from which it may be; except that everywhere I find the quote it's either attributed to Civ 4, unknown, or Oscar Wilde.

Wilde also wrote "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."

With that, here are a couple other bureaucracy-related quotes:

The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is inefficiency. An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty.
Eugene McCarthy (1916 - 2005), Time magazine, Feb. 12, 1979


We cannot meet 21st Century challenges with a 20th Century bureaucracy.
Barack Obama (1961 - ), Nomination Acceptance Speech, 08-28-08


Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.
Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924)
 

echo6tango

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
230
Location
, Maryland, USA
imported post

This is yet another gun bill (whether pro gun or anti gun) that will not pass, even if it makes it out of committee.

And for all those advocating "running" from the State...whatever. It takes more of a man to face and fight adversity than it takes to run from it. Did the founding fathers run to another country or did they stay and fight for their rights until they won? Sure, Maryland is F’d up in more ways to count on both hands. However, there are still people in the State that chose to stay and fight rather than run for the hills…unfortunately, we have a far greater surplus of sheeple in Maryland that continue to elect the same bozos into office each term. That tide will slowly turn…but it will eventually turn. Heck, if D.C. can improve their “observance” of the Constitution, it can happen anywhere!

I follow each and every gun bill in Maryland every year, and since I’ve lived here, it’s always the same outcome. This year shows very little signs of any difference, although there is some positive headway being made. Go with the flow and blindly accept whatever you’re served, or go against the flow and fight for what God has given you.
 

Sig229

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2006
Messages
926
Location
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
imported post

echo6tango wrote:
This is yet another gun bill (whether pro gun or anti gun) that will not pass, even if it makes it out of committee.

And for all those advocating "running" from the State...whatever. It takes more of a man to face and fight adversity than it takes to run from it. Did the founding fathers run to another country or did they stay and fight for their rights until they won? Sure, Maryland is F’d up in more ways to count on both hands. However, there are still people in the State that chose to stay and fight rather than run for the hills…unfortunately, we have a far greater surplus of sheeple in Maryland that continue to elect the same bozos into office each term. That tide will slowly turn…but it will eventually turn. Heck, if D.C. can improve their “observance” of the Constitution, it can happen anywhere!

I follow each and every gun bill in Maryland every year, and since I’ve lived here, it’s always the same outcome. This year shows very little signs of any difference, although there is some positive headway being made. Go with the flow and blindly accept whatever you’re served, or go against the flow and fight for what God has given you.

Good point, but tell me about the "fighting for gun rights" that has gone on in MD.....


When I lived there, all I saw was a bunch of gun owners being cry baby's about it.
And when you meet with them and try to get some real protests and political pro gun campaigns going, they are nowhere to be found.

Im sure if Thomas Jefferson's friends only talked about fighting the Brits but never did it, he would have moved to.
 

echo6tango

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
230
Location
, Maryland, USA
imported post

Sig229 wrote:

Good point, but tell me about the "fighting for gun rights" that has gone on in MD.....


When I lived there, all I saw was a bunch of gun owners being cry baby's about it.
And when you meet with them and try to get some real protests and political pro gun campaigns going, they are nowhere to be found.

Im sure if Thomas Jefferson's friends only talked about fighting the Brits but never did it, he would have moved to.

I will readily admit that the fight is done by a minority while the majority either sits on the fence, ignores the issues altogether, or simply drink the Kool Aid offered by the elected and non-elected officials. Some are talk and then no shows when it matters, but there are still those that stick it out.

One fine example of the fight being fought in Maryland is over at http://www.marylandshallissue.com/

Maryland is many years behind Virginia, but it will either catch up eventually, or implode. Many folks here see the fight being fought in Virginia and it gives us some motivation that one day the same can be true about Maryland too.
 

Sig229

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2006
Messages
926
Location
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
imported post

echo6tango wrote:
Sig229 wrote:

Good point, but tell me about the "fighting for gun rights" that has gone on in MD.....


When I lived there, all I saw was a bunch of gun owners being cry baby's about it.
And when you meet with them and try to get some real protests and political pro gun campaigns going, they are nowhere to be found.

Im sure if Thomas Jefferson's friends only talked about fighting the Brits but never did it, he would have moved to.

I will readily admit that the fight is done by a minority while the majority either sits on the fence, ignores the issues altogether, or simply drink the Kool Aid offered by the elected and non-elected officials. Some are talk and then no shows when it matters, but there are still those that stick it out.

One fine example of the fight being fought in Maryland is over at http://www.marylandshallissue.com/

Maryland is many years behind Virginia, but it will either catch up eventually, or implode. Many folks here see the fight being fought in Virginia and it gives us some motivation that one day the same can be true about Maryland too.
Well, its refreshing to see movement gaining among some gun owners in MD.

When I lived there, if I were to talk about the shooting range, firearms or anything gun related in public, people would look at me like I was Osama Bin Laden.

I think if more MD'ers are vocal in public about firearm ownership, it might help.

In my opinion, I think it is going to get worse in Maryland before it gets better.
The majority of the populace in Maryland suffer from a British type of "nanny state" mentality.

When the strong violence starts moving out of west Baltimore into Frederick, and down south into Anne Arundel County and Annapolis, MAYBE people will wake up.

Or it might take a natural disaster for the sheeple to realize what needs to be done.

Maryland is a beautiful state and part of me is proud to come from there. The other side of that coin is I wish the state would just slide off into the Atlantic ocean.
 

Sonora Rebel

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2008
Messages
3,956
Location
Gone
imported post

Hmmm... fight an uphill battle amongst the socialist inculcated sheep, LEA JBT's and anendemic government attitude that's been in place since 1867 with the entrenched denial of a Constitutional right? ?

Or... cross the Arizona border and buckle your gunbelt? Hmmm... decisions, decisions. :uhoh:

Besides... there's no snow down here.
 

ezliving

New member
Joined
May 17, 2009
Messages
3
Location
Naptown, Murderland, Maryland, USA
imported post

handbill-frosh-rosenberg-600b.jpg


handbill-lenett-600.jpg
 

Mr H

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Messages
286
Location
AA Co., Maryland, USA
imported post

Even though I grew up shooting, I'm relatively new to this particular dance.

I got back into shooting about 18mos ago, and am appalled at the insular, elitist drivel that passes for gun laws in MD.

What should bea simple handgun purchase is an exercise in beaurocratic futility, all in the hope that you will be "Not Disapproved" for the purchase.

I have, however, been glad to see that there appears to be an increasing number of folks I encounter who understand the 2A issues here, and would like to see the laws changed. However, I think the reason we don't see them speaking openly on this is a general feeling that it's not yet "appropriate", or that there is a fear of reprisal should their opinions become widely known.

If we, as Marylanders (and Americans) don't proudly stand up for our rights--any rights--then the elected elite will consider it their province to deny those rights.

I've seen aterm hereI've used wholeheartedly over the years. When I mention it, I get the most amazing looks... almost like I dared mention the Emporer's state of undress. We must stand up--politely and peacefully, yet definitively--for our rights, lest we all become lost in the herd ofSheeple.
 

Buttercup

New member
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Messages
9
Location
, ,
imported post

I note on this forum that almost if not all members are in total agreement with each other. In fact new posts appear to be more pats on the back of others rather than any point or points in opposition.

As a former correctional officer, a former bar tender, a former legal administrative assistant in both corporate and criminal law, lost everything a couple decades ago and lived homeless without heat, food, transportation, or shelter, and because I've lived in the State of Maryland for nearly 4 decades now, I hope you'll permit a slightly skewed perspective. (I've given all of the above because I need to assure everyone I'm not a politician. It appears I may be one of the few females registered here as well.

In 1976, here in Maryland, I was held at gunpoint, a 12-gauge shotgun to be specific, that was rammed against my head over and over and over and over again while threats were made to my life and others in the same room. For years after I had nightmares. Bloody, violent.

After losing all I was for a short while able to get an apartment in a well-known crack neighborhood. The apartment complex was routinely (nearly every night) cordoned off because of shootings and murders) Gun shots were common. Stray bullets travel far beyond a would-be target and enter windows and walls more easily than you may imagine. Flashing lights were part of the night.

In my late 40s, having no other resources or options left to me, I tested high to enter the State of Maryland Academy for Correctional Officers. Days and hours were spent on the firing range utilizing pistols up to automatic rifles, both straight shooting, ground shooting, crawling shooting. I placed well on the range and because of my scores, the other 'rookies' professed me as their good luck talisman rubbing my head before each timed event. I could draw swiftly from a snapped holster and hit my target with fair precision.

Correctional officers, however, do not carry guns or weapons on the tiers. We were locked in with the inmates. Oddly, I did not feel threatened. The ONLY time I feel threatened is when I see a rifle slung to a hunter's shoulder, or when I see holstered, loaded pistols, slung to the hips of an individual who then appears to casually strut the idea that he/she can in a crowded public area. It's not really a political statement, as it's a costumed posturing of ego power. Perhaps I view this kind of attitude in this way because of my own life's influence by guns.

I am reminded though that ALL of us have the right to self-defense, and we have the right to hunt food. I am also reminded that the State of Maryland is a very densely populated region and within that very dense population there are a remarkable number of differing cultures, ideas and individuals who are as different in their needs, desires and wants as they are alike. VERY often those things are in contrast to the fellow standing beside them, living next door or even in the same house.

I can tell you this with certainty, even without a recognized weapon, the American citizen is never an individual any enemy should provoke. Even in just our numbers here in this single State, with our bare hands no enemy could hope to prevail. It's usually our own guns against ourselves that solve an enemy's problem.

I know guns, I know them very well. I know their power, I respect them. And I will not own one anymore.
 

Mr H

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Messages
286
Location
AA Co., Maryland, USA
imported post

I completely appreciate your perspective.

In the reading I've been able to do since signing up here this week, I see things I disagree with. But, I also see that they are valid opinions, FTMP, and generally as well-reasoned as yours.

I'm sure I'll be somewhat critical of conversation as we go, but that's what good debate is about.

In fact, if OC never comes about in MD, I'll be OK with that, provided we get rid of some of this draconian garbage that passes for regulation and allow those who are responsible and willing, to choose whether or not gun ownershipand shooting are for them.
 

Buttercup

New member
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Messages
9
Location
, ,
imported post

There are always demographics that must be considered when specific restrictions are mandated. Across this country there seem to be a very wide variety of allowance flavors to this issue. I needed to know how the wider country of the United States and regions projected their views. I found this one informative. You can click on specific states for more detailed information concerning the laws of both a particular State and then regions within pertaining to Open-Carry law. http://opencarry.org/opencarry.html
I then wanted to see population differences as a condition of tolerance so I pulled up the respective (latest) populations for each of the States and territories ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population ). If you take into consideration the geographic mass and then realize the population fitting into that mass, you also get a better idea of why some of the laws are more restrictive. For example, Maryland, for as tiny as it is in mass, has a population of 5,699,478, which is an extremely dense number of people squashed into a VERY small area and is ranked one of the highest of all the other States just in number of people. The chart below is ranked according to population numbers from highest to lowest. (when you put a bunch of rats together in a very small container, they will claw and chew each other to death very quickly….they don’t need guns to aid them): California——————- 36,961,664
Texas——————- 24,782,302
New York——————- 19,541,453
Florida——————- 18,537,969
Illinois——————- 12,910,409
Pennsylvania——————- 12,604,767
Ohio——————- 11,542,645
Michigan——————- 9,969,727
Georgia——————- 9,829,211
North Carolina——————- 9,380,884
New Jersey——————- 8,707,739
Virginia——————- 7,882,590
Washington——————- 6,664,195
Arizona——————- 6,595,778
Massachusetts——————- 6,593,587
Indiana——————- 6,423,113
Tennessee——————- 6,296,254
Missouri——————- 5,987,580
Maryland——————- 5,699,478
Wisconsin——————- 5,654,774
Minnesota——————- 5,266,214
Colorado——————- 5,024,748
Alabama——————- 4,708,708
South Carolina——————- 4,561,242
Louisiana——————- 4,492,076
Kentucky——————- 4,314,113
Puerto Rico——————- 3,967,288
Oregon——————- 3,825,657
Oklahoma——————- 3,687,050
Connecticut——————- 3,518,288
Iowa——————- 3,007,856
Mississippi——————- 2,951,996
Arkansas——————- 2,889,450
Kansas——————- 2,818,747
Utah——————- 2,784,572
Nevada——————- 2,643,085
New Mexico——————- 2,009,671
West Virginia——————- 1,819,777
Nebraska——————- 1,796,619
Idaho——————- 1,545,801
Maine——————- 1,318,301
New Hampshire——————- 1,324,575
Hawaii——————- 1,295,178
Rhode Island——————- 1,053,209
Montana——————- 974,989
Delaware——————- 885,122
South Dakota——————- 812,383
Alaska——————- 698,473
North Dakota——————- 646,844
Vermont——————- 621,760
District of Columbia——————- 599,657
Wyoming——————- 544,270

In some States or regions there may well be credible reasons to have OC....the nearest neighbor may be miles away let alone assistance from any kind of police or military assistance.
 

SIGguy229

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2007
Messages
349
Location
Stafford, VA, , Afghanistan
imported post

So, Buttercup, I'm sorry you went through what you did...

However, your decision not to own or carry a firearm is your alone...and I respect that. It is when the State trumps an inalienable right to self-defense (with a firearm) that I have a problem with....

Population density notwithstanding, if citizens legally carry firearms, crime drops. Why? Bad guys don't like armed victims...

Gun control is not about guns....it is about controlling people....except the criminals who continue to prey upon the weak.
 

Buttercup

New member
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Messages
9
Location
, ,
imported post

SIGguy229 wrote:
So, Buttercup, I'm sorry you went through what you did...

However, your decision not to own or carry a firearm is your alone...and I respect that. It is when the State trumps an inalienable right to self-defense (with a firearm) that I have a problem with....

Population density notwithstanding, if citizens legally carry firearms, crime drops. Why? Bad guys don't like armed victims...

Gun control is not about guns....it is about controlling people....except the criminals who continue to prey upon the weak.
I also understand your view. I also believe that much of the unrest about this issue is an symptom of other 'rights' that continue to be taken from us one by one. Each of those restrictions, taken one at a time inflame, but we 'sort of' accept them eventually and then another is given. In time, when we look back, we see we're standing in a deep pit when we once stood on higher ground.

Some restrictions may seem small and insignificant at the time, or are restrictions (laws or rules) that appear to affect someone other than ourselves. Many of us here in Maryland especially because of reduced land space, live in housing developments and are restricted by rules of home owners associations: the color of your house, when you cut your grass, if algae happens to be showing on your siding, can't have gardens............you know these lists.

Smokers are becoming so restricted that soon it will be a violation to smoke in your own backyard or in your own home. In some locations is a violation to smoke in your own car.

Flying has become so restrictive and uncomfortable that it may be easier and faster to travel by car or foot.

Employment security has dropped (if you're fortunate enough to be employed) because employers can fire 'at will' without cause. Unions have been deteriorating and are of little to no effect anymore.

There is VERY little in anyone's life truly in their 'control' anymore and we have let rights slip and slip and slip.

The fact is that we have been permitting rights to be taken from us for decades and few spoke up either because they were in a minority, or because they were afraid, or because it wasn't their fight.

I understand fighting for a principal. But there are several things that must be set aside before a 'principal' it really is:

1. Is it just a 'statement' to wear a weapon openly or do you feel threatened?
2. Would it make you feel safer knowing that everyone around you, in their cars, on the streets, walking past your home, strangers are also wearing weapons?
3. Would you trust those strangers intentions knowing you cannot possibly read their minds?
4. If everyone else is wearing weapons might that encourage your own need to make sure you, too, wear yours?
5. Should we permit our children to wear weapons as well and at what age should they have that right?
6. What about our children at school or playing in our yards unprotected when there are adults and older children duly garbed walking among them?
7. Or would carrying give you a sense of power?

There are a lot of things to think about. Most would say they simply want the right to OC but would probably seldom if ever carry. However, there are many others who would always carry............which then puts you into a position, especially if they are strangers, to decide you'd better do the same.

There are a lot of difficult choices to make. For myself I CAN tell you that if OC does come to fruition, I will feel the need to carry as well. I am smaller than most other adults. As it is crowds take my oxygen (when I go to concerts etc.). I've lost a lot; I am not about to let anyone take anything else from me. That becomes a rather volatile idea that many others would/will take as well.
 

Dreamer

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
5,360
Location
Grennsboro NC
imported post

Buttercup wrote:
I am reminded though that ALL of us have the right to self-defense, and we have the right to hunt food. I am also reminded that the State of Maryland is a very densely populated region and within that very dense population there are a remarkable number of differing cultures, ideas and individuals who are as different in their needs, desires and wants as they are alike.

Welcome to the forum, and we're glad to have another woman in the ranks. I agree-there are FAR too few female members here, and I for one, would like to see a LOT more women on this forum, and in the pro-2A world in general.

I too have extensive training in the use of firearms. I have worked for DOJ, DOD, and several other such groups as a contractor, and I have also been active in the competitive shooting sports on and off for the last 20 years.

But unlike you, I grew up in a peaceful little town in WV--the sort of "Mayberry-like" place where we used to leave our home's doors unlocked and the car keys under the floormats of our vehicles. Back then, you could buy firearms and ammo at the local hardware store (Western Auto), and just about everyone I know had a few guns in their houses--we hunted, shot targets, and generally were well-behaved and disciplined about it. The common and widespread ownership of firearms wasn't an issue--everyone knew everyone else, and we all knew that guns were tools to be used for VERY specific purposes. We measured our "toughness" by the scars on our fists, the size of our biceps, and the success of our businesses. IT was a different time, when people didn't have a sense of entitlement, and honest people worked for a living. Those who were less honest were soon "outed" for what they were, didnt stick around for long--small communities don't have much sympathy for the lazy, the thuggish, or the devious...

My hometown has had 2 homicides in the last 100 years, one back in the 1940's, and one in the 1980s, and BOTH of them were committed by folks from "big cities" who were traveling through our little town, one from Baltimore, and one from New York.

So what I'm getting at is that although I TOTALLY support your personal choice to be unarmed, and unable to provide security and defense for your self and your loved ones, I take SERIOUS ISSUE with the STATE telling people that they must ALL make that same decision.

You have the freedom to actively exercise any, all, or none of your Natural Rights as enumerated in our Constitution. You are under no obligation to carry a firearm, any more than you are to own a printing press, or speak in public, or attend protest marches, or vote in an election.

The problem I have with MD's government is that they don't believe that ANY of these Natural Rights are natural at all--the government of MD actually believes in their heart of hearts that they have the ability to grant or deny fundamental human rights to the people--and that, dear sister, is wrong, wrong, wrong. It is an immoral, unethical, and fundamentally evil belief to espouse, and flies in the face of everything that living in a free nation is supposed to entail.

As for your assertion that MD is "densely populated", I would remind you that actually, according to the US Census department, and MD's own records, only about 25% of the land mass of MD falls under the category of "densely populated"--primarily Montgomery, PG, Baltimore and Howard Counties. The remaining 75% of MD--the VAST majority of MD in fact--is comprised mostly of small, non-contiguous towns, and sparsely populated rural areas.

Your perceptions of MD are symptomatic of how most of the folks in those 4 crime-ridden dens of iniquity perceive the ENTIRE state (and in fact, how they believe the ENTIRE nation is).

The FACT is, dear sister, that the VAST majority of the land-mass of MD is populated NOT by thugs, gang-bangers, scoff-laws, and "entitled" slackers feeding on the Government Teat, but in fact by peace-loving, law-abiding, hardworking folk who are for the most part embarrassed and disgusted by the foul behavior and duplicitous political actions of the inhabitants of the more "progressive" and "educated" counties.

The statistic bear out the plain fact that in MD, mean income and education level are actually INVERSELY proportional to crime rates. The poorer, less educated counties of MD have ASTRONOMICALLY lower crime rates than the 4 urban counties, which have not only some of the highest household incomes and education levels in the nation, but also have some of the highest rates of violent crime in the nation. This is an odd anomaly, because in almost EVERY other place in the nation, high incomes and education levels tend to equate with low crime, and poverty and illiteracy tend to equate with high crime. But for some reason, in MD, the more wealthy and educated the county is, the more rife with crime it tends to be. Perhaps MD needs to look at itself, and figure out why it is, in fact, functioning in a POLAR OPPOSITE manner with regards to socio-economics and crime when compared to the rest of the nation, and in fact the entire planet...

Just because you grew up in "the hood" and apparently don't get out of the city much, doesn't mean the whole state is like that. The vast majority of MD is a BEAUTIFUL and PEACEFUL state, with forests, rivers, meadows, hills, rock outcroppings, caves and waterfalls. Only about a quarter of MD has fallen victim to the mixed urban plagues of yuppies, "liberals", crackheads, gang-bangers, and slack-jawed stoop-sitters.

Welcome to the forum, but may I recommend that you spend less time sitting in your urban enclave surfing the internet, and maybe get down to the Eastern Shore, or drive out to the Western Counties and explore the Appalachian Trail or something. Most of MD is beautiful, friendly, safe, and cordial. You do yourself and your fine state a disservice by painting the ENTIRE state as being in the same sorry state as the 4 "urban" counties.

All that said, the dangers of the streets in Baltimore or Silver Spring pale in comparison to the treachery of the dark halls of Annapolis and Pikesville... :shock:

You REALLY ought to get out more, though. Most of MD is quiet, peaceful, beautiful and drive-by-shooting-free. ;)

When I drive through the urban counties of MD, I don't fear the criminals wearing their "colors" NEARLY as much as I fear the ones wearing badges. And THAT, dear sister, is why we are raggin on MD so much. The PEOPLE of MD are generally a fine, hardworking, law-abiding people (with the few exceptions of the tiny minority that makes up the criminal element). It's the GOVERNMENT of Maryland that most of us do not trust and do not appreciate.

Any government that tells it's people that fundamental human rights do not apply within it's borders, except for a tiny cadre of the "anointed elite" is at best corrupt, and at worst, verging on outright tyranny...

If you don't want to own or carry a firearm, then that is your choice.

What we are taking issue with here is that the "government" of MD would DARE to presume to tell us what we may and may not do to preserve the safety and security of our selves, and our beloved families, ESPECIALLY when their policy is in direct conflict with the US Constitution, and with the fundamental concepts of Human Rights...
 
Top