By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Gun prohibition lobbying groups rallied in Annapolis Tuesday to push for more gun control in Maryland, where lawmakers are considering legislation dubbed the “Gun Industry Accountability Act (Senate Bill 488), but one national grassroots gun rights organization is calling foul.
According to WBAL News, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action support the legislation and Democrat Gov. Wes Moore “is one of their biggest supporters.” He vowed to pass legislation “to make sure you are protected, to make sure you are supported and to make sure your family members are remembered.”
The Gun Industry Accountability Act would ostensibly “create a legal avenue to file lawsuits against gun-makers whose weapons are used in shootings,” the report said.
But not so fast, says a Second Amendment group.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms issued a statement contending the proposed legislation will do nothing to prevent or solve crimes involving guns, but only penalize gunmakers and retailers, and ultimately Maryland gun owners. CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb called the notion “preposterous.”
In a statement to the media, CCRKBA noted, “Gottlieb said holding firearms manufacturers and dealers responsible for crimes committed by criminals, who are frequently already prohibited by law from having guns because of past convictions, is “definitely the wrong approach.” He noted that Maryland reportedly ranks eighth in the country for gun law strength, but in 2022, it was 14th out of 50 states for the number of homicides, with more than 500 slayings, according to Statista.com. The veteran gun rights advocate has championed efforts such as Three Strikes and Hard Time for Armed Crime, which focus on criminals, instead of law-abiding gun owners, retailers and manufacturers.”
“This new legislation creates the illusion that something is being done about violent crime involving guns,” Gottlieb said. “Instead, it merely shifts the blame away from the criminal and onto the shoulders of those in the firearms industry, and ultimately the honest Free State gun owners, who haven’t harmed anyone. There’s nothing fair, productive or morally right about that philosophy.
“It’s time for Wes Moore and his fellow Democrats to stop using gun owners and gun makers as scapegoats for their inability to prevent crimes, and their reluctance to harshly punish the people committing those violent crimes,” he added.
Gov. Moore is also looking to create a “Center for Firearm Violence Prevention.” Gottlieb said the “notion that creating a Center for Firearm Violence Prevention will do anything besides build another bureaucracy is, at best, wishful thinking.”
Maryland Shall Issue, a gun rights group devoted to concealed carry reform in the state, told the TV station it opposes the legislation. The group criticized the legislation for attempting to create “huge legal liabilities” for retailers, distributors and gunmakers for crimes committed by criminals. The group predicted the bill would be defeated in court if it becomes law.
CCRKBA’s Gottlieb noted, “It is already illegal for people, especially students, to have guns at schools. It’s already illegal to shoot people, commit armed robberies or carjackings, and carry guns without a permit, yet the criminal element in Maryland keeps doing those things with impunity. Passing laws that punish the wrong people is a failed strategy, and it’s time to try something else.”
