“The NRA is very good at what it does,” I declared.
I was a guest on the Marc Steiner show.
“The existing law is riddled with loopholes, thanks to the NRA,” I continued. “For instance, agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms can make only one inspection per year of a licensed gun dealer.”
Some of the other points I tried to make.
“President Obama and Governor O’Malley are not claiming that their legislation would be a panacea [as another panelist had asserted]. What they’re seeking are reasonable limitations on access to certain firearms and magazines that will reduce the risk of deadly violence upon innocent children and others.”
“Chiefs of police overwhelmingly support gun control laws.”
In response to the claim that the 2nd Amendment would be violated by these restrictions, I read from Justice Scalia’s opinion in the case striking down a District of Columbia statute because it violated an individual’s right to possess and use a firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.
“From Blackstone through the 19th-century cases” the law was understood to mean that the Second Amendment “was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose…Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”
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I had this dialogue with a veteran lobbyist who was about to seek co-sponsors for a bill we are working on.
“It’s good to have a champion on the committee,” said the lobbyist.
“No, it’s essential,” I replied.
“I’m getting too old to get a lot of co-sponsors.”
“Young or old, seeking co-sponsors who are not on the committee hearing the bill is the biggest waste of time in Annapolis.”
