For Immediate Release
Maryland should ban assault weapons before federal ban sunsets in SeptemberFebruary 3rd, 2004
Over seventy state and local organizations call for extending Maryland’s ban on assault pistols to rifles
Baltimore, MD: At an Annapolis press conference today, CeaseFire Maryland, the state’s leading gun violence prevention group, called for banning semi-automatic assault weapons from Maryland. CeaseFire Maryland is joined by over 70 state and local organizations in calling for extending the 1994 state ban on semi-automatic assault pistols to assault rifles in a letter to Senate President Miller and Speaker Busch. The Assault Weapons Ban of 2004 (SB 288) is sponsored by Senator Rob Garagiola and Delegate Neil Quinter and has twenty Senate sponsors and thirty-four House sponsors. Supporting the bill are law enforcement, religious, civic, consumer and medical groups. Leah Barrett, Executive Director of CeaseFire Maryland, said: “A broad cross-section of Marylanders has made it clear that it wants a ban on semi-automatic assault rifles that have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people in a short amount of time. These are military weapons and have no place in a civil society. We hope the elected members of the General Assembly will heed the call and act to ban these weapons now.”
The 1994 federal assault weapons ban will expire this September unless Congress passes new legislation. Senator Rob Garagiola from Montgomery County, a sponsor of a state ban on military-style assault rifles along with Delegate Neil Quinter of Howard County, said: “It is unlikely Congress will do the right thing and reauthorize the federal ban. As a result, you will be able to buy AK47s, Uzis and Streetsweepers at your local gun shops in just a few months. These weapons do not belong on our streets. We want to protect Marylanders by extending our 1994 ban on assault pistols to rifles.”
Military-style semi-automatic assault weapons are the guns of choice of cop-killers, drug dealers and mass murderers. A U.S. Justice Department report revealed that “assault weapons are disproportionately involved in murders with multiple victims, multiple victims, multiple wounds per victim, and police officers as victims.” At least one in five police officers slain in the line of duty was killed by an assault weapon, according to the most recent data available from the FBI. One of these deaths occurred in Maryland in 2000.
Bans on these weapons have proven effective. The Maryland assault pistol ban resulted in a 55% drop in recoveries of assault pistols by the Baltimore City Police Department during the first six months of the ban. Delegate Neil Quinter remarked: “Prince George’s County Police records show they are not seizing assault pistols from criminals anymore because they have been banned in Maryland for nearly ten years – the supply has dried up. But they are continuing to seize assault rifles. Our bill would help shut off the supply of these deadly weapons to criminals in Maryland.”
Barrett said: “Sportsmen will not be denied their firearms. Federal law provides specific protection to 670 types of hunting rifles and shotguns currently being manufactured. And the gun industry admits that assault weapons have limited sporting use.”
Finally, nearly two-thirds of Marylanders support banning these weapons of war. A March 2003 survey by Gonzales/Arscott Research found majorities in support of a ban in every demographic sub-group and across all ages and races.
CeaseFire Maryland is a statewide non-profit organization comprised of thousands of Marylanders working with a common mission – to free Maryland from gun violence.