Push to kill MD preemption

As bad as Maryland is, at least we have a weak preemption law that keeps so-called "progressive" areas from banning self-defense firearms for whatever specious reasons they may claim.

One current MoCo Council member Marc Elrich tried banning handguns in his former city (Takoma Park) when he was on the city council there. His reason? "If it saves one life, it's worth it." Thinking like that gets you a seat on the MoCo Council, I guess.

Too bad for Elrich that the MD courts told him and the other Takoma Park nutbars to go pound sand. Ever hear of the rights of the minority, dumbasses? A few years ago, PG county tried this attack on preemption and failed in legislative committee. With a new governor and a new crop of "progressives," who knows this year.

Anyway, one of Elrich's buddies, the newly elected Del. Manno, wants to exempt MoCo from MD gun law preemption. Manno says with a straight face that he has no idea what MoCO would do with the new power, but wants to give it an "option."
STFU, Manno. You know exactly what your buddies Elrich and Andrews (both quoted in the article)would do: turn MoCo into the next DC by banning everything except antique muskets.

Manno said that the 120,000 people he represents in District 19, which encompasses parts of northern Silver Spring, Wheaton, unincorporated Rockville, Aspen Hill and Leisure World, ‘‘are more progressive than any other county” and ‘‘support more aggressive efforts to cut down on challenges we face with gun violence.”

What could he mean by "aggressive efforts" beyond what MD already does to screw legal firearms owners? Gee, I wonder!

Never mind that MoCo residents actually average 1-2 self-defense shootings per year against home invaders. Never mind that MoCo is currently facing an average of one home invasion every 10 days. Never mind that no MoCo crime report I have seen ever involved a legal firearms owner misusing his or her firearm (and I see a lot every week).

Somehow, though, Manno thinks that banning legal firearms will stop illegal aliens from robbing armored cars, or stop 16 Y/O drug dealers from shooting undercover police officers posing as other drug dealers (two recent events cited in the article). Don't ask me, ask him. Here is what he says:

‘‘I’m not an anti-gun nut,” Manno said. ‘‘I support the constitutional Second Amendment rights. ... I do think there are commonsense measures that could be introduced to cut down on problems, instances of violence that exist [due to] illegal gun use.”

Yeah, that must be that "constitutional Second Amendment right to go duck hunting."

Luckily for me, one of my three delegates will actually listen to me when I contact his/her office. He/She is not clearly on our side, but at least I am heard and he/she actually responds to my concerns on gun laws or any other issues like getting rid of the immoral death penalty. Maybe that's why this person got a campaign contribution from me?

Here's a LTE in response to the preemption article (not published, either):

Like weeds in the garden, Maryland's anti-gun-owners arise each year in
the spring and introduce new "friends" that hamper the legislature's
business rather than get the people's work done. This year's seedling
is Del. Manno, who wants to allow Montgomery County to enact
legislation exceeding Maryland's already draconian firearm laws. The only way
Montgomery County could make Maryland's existing gun laws any tougher would be for it to enact a comprehensive firearms ban like Washington, D.C.

Manno's bill should be rejected for the same reason we don't let individual counties enact their own automobile inspection standards: serious public safety issues of
statewide concern should be addressed at the level of the state
legislature. Manno says that he would not tell Howard County what to
do,but I am pretty confident that he would be opposed to Washington or
Frederick counties opting out of the Maryland gun laws and enacting the
more reasonable firearms policies of Pennsylvania or Virginia (states
that have far lower crime rates than Maryland, by the way).

For an example of the disaster that comes from allowing a patchwork of local
gun control laws to exist, look no further than Illinois; Chicago is
currently undergoing an armed criminal epidemic while legal firearms
owners are routinely caught by "gotcha" local laws as they travel to
hunting grounds and shooting ranges, or even when they protect their
families in their own homes. Like those pesky weeds, Manno's bill needs
to be uprooted and discarded.