Mayor introduces new gun legislation
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced today the introduction of bills in Annapolis to strengthen penalties for illegal gun possession and use.
She also introduced a new social media site to keep track of the bills as they wind their way through the legislature and to provide information on efforte to stem gun violence in Baltimore. The site is called Safer City Baltimore.
According to the mayor, the bills would:
One City administration proposal, SB239 HB252 would create a minimum sentence of 18 months for all defendants arrested with an illegal, loaded firearm. The other City administration proposal, SB240/HB241 would strengthen sentencing options for felons in possession of guns by creating a tougher sentencing range of 5 years minimum to 15 years maximum, giving judges more sentencing options when faced with a repeat gun offender.
The mayor and police commissioner on Friday held a news conference to highlight an arrest of a suspected violent gun offender. For more information, here is the text of the mayor's statement on the new bills:
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s two state proposals for tougher penalties for illegal, loaded guns were introduced on the behalf of the City administration to the Maryland General Assembly today. The Mayor urged Baltimore’s public safety unions to support the legislation. A new social media website, baltimorecity.gov/SaferCity, went live today to support the new illegal gun legislation.
“I urge everyone—business leaders, community leaders, and everyday citizens who care about the future of Baltimore—to join me in Annapolis this year for this cause,” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said. “I also specifically ask the leaders of our public safety unions to join the fight for tougher penalties for illegal, loaded gun possession so we can stop the revolving door of justice, continue to reduce gun violence in Baltimore, and keep our police officers safe when they patrol our neighborhoods.”
One City administration proposal, SB239 / HB252 would create a minimum sentence of 18 months for all defendants arrested with an illegal, loaded firearm. The other City administration proposal, SB240 / HB241 would strengthen sentencing options for felons in possession of guns by creating a tougher sentencing range of 5 years minimum to 15 years maximum, giving judges more sentencing options when faced with a repeat gun offender.
Mayor Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Bealefeld have repeatedly noted that 44% of homicide suspects in 2010 have a prior gun arrest; yet 82% of all jail time imposed by Baltimore’s criminal courts for gun offenders charged with these crimes was suspended, and the average amount of jail time served by misdemeanor gun offenders is only four months.
“The current laws are not strong enough and support a culture that tolerates illegal, loaded gun possession on the streets of our city and state,” Mayor Rawlings-Blake said.
The new social media website, (Baltimore Safer City) contains information about the bills, links to related news articles, editorial commentary, and press releases as well as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube content. Maryland residents who support the legislation are urged to join a growing coalition of business, community, faith, government, and institutional leaders by signing-up with their e-mail address and linking with friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. The website provides a fact sheet and will provide updates on the status of the legislation as it moves through the legislative process.
Comments
Please define "illegal firearm".
Posted by: Brian | January 31, 2011 1:06 PM
I'm all for this, as long as you also allow someone like myself who has never committed a crime or been charged with a felony the right to carry for any reason we want. Right now you can only carry under very specific situations which I will never qualify for.
Till then, apparently you can get away with murder in this city. Maybe the Mayor needs to talk to a few of the judges as well. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/blog/2011/01/woman_who_killed_baby_convicte.html
Posted by: Anonymous | January 31, 2011 2:01 PM
So we are just going to make more laws that criminals don't follow? Seems silly to me. Let us law abiding citizens ccw...
Posted by: Peter | January 31, 2011 3:04 PM
"“The current laws are not strong enough and support a culture that tolerates illegal, loaded gun possession on the streets of our city and state,”-SRB
I don't accept either of these assertions as being factually true or even marginally of any merit such that adding still more laws will affect anything or anyone positively.
Not that it's as easy as merely writing this comment, or the new proposed laws ftm, but If the existing gun use related crimes are actually enforced, charged and then prosecuted... they're plenty strong enough.
Posted by: MrRational | January 31, 2011 3:57 PM
Help me understand. The City and the State of MD create more and more guns laws - yet gun crimes continue to increase, and gun using criminals continue to get susoended sentences. More Gun Laws - More Crime. Allow Concealed Carry, require the Md State Police to issue gun permits to us law abiding citizens. To quote John Lott - More Guns - Less Crime. Take a look at Fla or Switzerland - it is easy to get a Fla CCW permit, in Switzerland - every citizen is given a rifle. Bith places have less crime then Bakto City.
Posted by: BFD - Big Fat Daddy | January 31, 2011 8:56 PM
Just a bunch of nonsense. The Mayor should be figuring out how to bring jobs and businesses to the City. Just a waste. Criminals don't care about some laws. That's why they are called criminals. We need to vote these people out of office.
Posted by: Jason | February 1, 2011 1:33 AM
folks should know some "unintentional" violations can occur. for instance, felons, or those with "qualifying misdemeanors" cannot shoot at gun ranges-even strictly supervised and the ranges freely provide customer info to police. even touching a firearm constitutes "possession of a regulated firearm." yet, i'm told, a minor (under 21) is allowed to shoot with supervision. how can this be, when neither a felon, nor a minor is permitted by law to "possession" of a regulated firearm? stuff like this only fuels confusion and hurts everyone. and what laws are broken when a felon lives with a non-felon who has firearms? some laws seem designed to make new criminals.
Posted by: walt | February 3, 2011 5:15 AM