Under Fire, Governor Drops Exile (Good overview of gun control politics in MD)

The Gazette ^ | 10-3 | Thomas Dennison

[ForOurFuture]

ANNAPOLIS -- Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. will not reintroduce Project Exile legislation next year, a decision that comes as the governor finds himself under increasingly heavy fire from both sides of the gun debate.

With this week's one-year anniversary of the sniper attacks providing momentum for a bill banning assault style weapons similar to the one used in the attacks, the highly emotional gun debate is promising to re-emerge in next year's General Assembly session.

Ehrlich (R) is showing clear signs that he wants to remain above the fray by pulling the plug on a Project Exile bill. But his overall silence on gun issues has prompted sharp criticism from a leading pro-gun activist and some lawmakers, who say he has failed to live up to campaign promises to reconsider gun control laws that they contend amount to a de facto handgun ban.

[ForOurFuture]

Maryland Politics Ping.

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[Servant of the 9]

The only real opponents of Exile are the Liberals who are afraid it will work.

So9

[coloradan]

Ehrlich's Project Exile bill was bottled up in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee this year because of strong opposition from both the pro- and anti-gun lobbies. Chairman Brian E. Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda essentially held the bill hostage and was willing to consider passing portions of the bill only as a compromise to pass new gun control legislation in a deal Ehrlich ultimately rejected.

Translation: We won't support a law based on "enforcing the laws already on the books" without putting a few more laws on the books as well. Fine by me: don't enforce the laws on the books (they're unconstitutional anyway) and don't pass any more laws either.

[Dan from Michigan]

Alright Ehrlich(so far). No Exile NOR new gun laws. A compromise I like.

[ForOurFuture]

Alright Ehrlich(so far). No Exile NOR new gun laws. A compromise I like.

What do you think of Exile?

[Dan from Michigan]

I don't support it unless about 5/6 of the laws are repealed.

[ForOurFuture]

I don't support it unless about 5/6 of the laws are repealed.

Why? What's the connection?

[Dan from Michigan]

Because there are too many laws out there that make felons out of good people.

[MonroeDNA]

I guess I've been around here for about 6 years or so now. Time sure flies!

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[supercat]

Because there are too many laws out there that make felons out of good people.

Indeed, I would suspect that most of the people whom Brady background checks 'legitimately' stopped were people who had no idea that their background disuqalified them from gun ownership. The way the statute is written, being found guilty or plea-bargaining to any crime for which the maximum sentence exceeds a year means lifetime disqualification from firearm ownership, even if the actual prison time imposed is zero.

[findingtruth]

Project Exile effectively federalizes crimes which properly are a matter of state jurisdiction. We don't need it.

[tgslTakoma]

The Gazette is a little brother publication to the Washington Post, and after reading through the Gazette article I can see the leftist bias of the Post and Gazette seeping through.

This article appears at first glance to be about Erlich's backing off of Project Exile, but then it quickly degenerates into a hit-piece on Jim Purtilo. I know Jim, and he's a die-hard grassroots RKBA activist, and I do not know him to "turn" on anyone. He will be brutally honest about a politician's forgetting who brung him to the state house in the first place, and I believe that this is what has happened. That's not turning on someone, that's calling a spade a spade.

Jim has been publishing "Tripwire" for many (10??) years on a shoestring budget, and Tripwire has grown to be a very worthy newsletter for gunowners in Maryland. I trust Jim's judgement more than I would any of the politicians who have been quoted (out of context perhaps??) in this article.

Politicians will be quick to tell us, "We have to wait for just the right time," to introduce a bill or to push for passage of something... and funny thing - that "right time" never seems to come. But they always come back to us during the election years to tell us again how much they support our cause, and can't we please help them win reelection so they can fight for us some more. Maryland gun owners worked very long and hard to help Erlich win his seat in the governor's mansion. He would do well not to forget it.

I've about had it with two-faced politicians here in MD who say they support the second amendment but can't prove it by any proactive measures on their part; and I am now actively home-hunting in Virginia.

[lizma]

I've about had it with two-faced politicians here in MD who say they support the second amendment but can't prove it by any proactive measures on their part; and I am now actively home-hunting in Virginia.

I'd love to live in VA too, but since hubby spent 10 years with a 2 hour commute and now it's down to ten minutes, I can just spin my wheels pushing for a Shenandoah retirement.

I've cornered Erhlich a few time in the past and asked him questions that were bothering all of us during the Clinton years and he didn't have any clue. He's more a politician than a statesmen. Just another pretty face.

I've worked with Mike Steele and I think, if he runs for governor next, there is hope for us yet. He seems to be a man that stands by his convictions. Time will tell.

[archy]

The way the statute is written, being found guilty or plea-bargaining to any crime for which the maximum sentence exceeds a year means lifetime disqualification from firearm ownership, even if the actual prison time imposed is zero.

Including, by the way, driving offenses in some states.

Get a misdemeanor traffic ticket and plead guilty and pay the fine, lose a civil right for life.

-archy-/-

[archy]

Alright Ehrlich(so far). No Exile NOR new gun laws. A compromise I like.

What do you think of Exile?

Needs to include political campaign financing violations as well. With mandatory sentencing provisions.

Cheat in an election, go to jail. No exceptions.

-archy-/-