Our History & Mission
Our Mission
CeaseFire Maryland, Inc.**
CeaseFire Maryland, Inc. is a statewide non-profit organization comprised of thousands of Marylanders working with a common mission - to free Maryland from gun violence. CeaseFire Maryland, Inc. works to reduce gun violence through educating the public, press and policymakers about the hazards of gun ownership and misuse, and through lobbying for sensible gun laws.
CeaseFire Maryland Education Fund, Inc.
The mission of CeaseFire Maryland Education Fund is to reduce gun violence in Maryland through education and grassroots advocacy. We believe that education empowers people and that empowered people can make a difference.
Click here to contribute to our work
Our History
CeaseFire Maryland, as it is now known, was founded on April 5, 1986 when a core group of Maryland activists came together to form The Maryland Committee for Handgun Control, Inc. in response to the sensational 1976 shooting death of Baltimore city Councilman Dominic Leone at City Hall. Soon after its founding, the Board of Directors changed the group’s name to Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse (MAHA). MAHA then launched a sister organization, now known as the CeaseFire Maryland Education Fund, to provide community education programs on gun violence prevention.
Legislative Advocacy
The organization has enjoyed many legislative achievements. In 1988 MAHA led the successful effort to pass a law that banned small, low quality handguns known as Saturday night specials. Prodded by the National Rifle Association (NRA), the State Rifle and Pistol Association began a petition campaign and postponed the bill from becoming law until voters approved it in a statewide referendum. The NRA spent seven million dollars in its losing attempt to repeal the law by referendum—more money than any other election effort in Maryland history up to that time, including all previous governor and senate races.
Other accomplishments include helping to establish, and advocating for, a series of measures including:
• Child Access Prevention (CAP) law
• Penalties for gun owners who allow children access to handguns
• Assault pistol sales ban which prohibits sale of 16 assault pistol models
• Limiting handgun purchases to one per person per month
• Regulation of secondary or private gun sales
• Prohibition on “straw purchases”
• Prohibiting domestic abusers from purchasing handguns
• Requiring safety devices required on all handguns sold in the state
• Establishing a ballistic fingerprinting database, and other provisions to assist law enforcement in solving gun crime
See State Gun Laws for more information
Community Education
The CeaseFire Maryland Education Fund was originally established through MAHA to inform the public about the dangers of gun violence in two basic ways: through schools and other community programs and through public outreach. Throughout its 20-year history, the Education Fund has led countless school programs in Montgomery and Howard Counties and in Baltimore City. In the 1990s the Education Fund sponsored a popular high school club at several area schools called SAHA—Students Against Handgun Abuse. In 2002 and 2003, the Education Fund ran the Summer Peace Camp for middle school age kids at the Village Learning Place in Baltimore.
The press has been the primary vehicle for the Education Fund’s public outreach efforts. Through news releases, broadcast television and radio interviews, and published opinion pieces, the Education Fund has successfully spread its message throughout the state. The Education Fund also provides expertise on the gun issue through its publicly available studies and fact sheets.
**This website is wholly owned by CeaseFire Maryland, Inc., which is solely responsible for its content. CeaseFire Maryland, Inc., is a Maryland nonprofit corporation recognized as exempt under Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Since a portion of the website's content (or other activities of the corporation) may be political in nature, contributions to this corporation are non-deductible. Other portions of the website's content are educational in nature, and may relate to the activities of a separate Maryland corporation known as CeaseFire Maryland Education Fund, Inc., an entity recognized as exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Those portions of the website may be regarded as contributed by CeaseFire Maryland, Inc., to its affiliated entity, CeaseFire Maryland Education Fund, Inc., as permitted by IRS regulations.