Dreamer
Regular Member
Dateline, 1 April, 2012
In light of recent Federal Court Rulings which have judged MD's carry permit issuance policies to be unconstitutional, and the growing trend toward expanded gun rights, self-defense and the expected incorporation of the Second Amendment against the States in pending cases soon to come before the SCotUS, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler is expected to announce to the press on Monday that the State has decided, after careful consideration, to join Vermont, Alaska, Arizona and Wyoming in allowing law-abiding citizens to carry firearms openly and concealed without requiring them to apply for a permit from the State or their local Sheriff. Maryland will make several sweeping adjustments to it's carry laws, including offering the option of a "Shall Issue" permit system for residents and non-residents (primarily for reciprocity reasons), pursuing Reciprocity with every State in the Union that offers a carry permit, and instituting a State Preemption statute (much like Virginia) that prohibits local laws, ordinances, and codes that would restrict the ownership, possession, carry or display of firearms.
Confidential sources inside the MD AG's office have told reporters that this was a difficult decision for the Attorney General, and the Maryland State Police, but they have finally "seen the light" and have decided to move from arbitrary and capricious "May Issue" permitting to completely unregulated "Constitutional Carry" based on a number of factors.
First, they acknowledge that the State is facing a massive debt in their operational budget due to decreased tax revenues, as thousands of law-abiding citizens have fled Maryland in the last few decades due to increased crime, and the State's lack of willingness to recognize the fundamental human right to self defense. Also, the State has seen tremendous drops in tourism revenues as millions of law-abiding citizens avoid vacationing, visiting and even traveling through Maryland based on the State's restrictive handgun carry laws.
But the main deciding factor in Maryland changing it's policies stems from the testimonies given during hearings for HB-45 on 21 February of this year, where it was brought to the attention of Maryland Legislators that Maryland was losing out on millions of dollars of revenue by refusing to issue carry permits to any person who was not otherwise prohibited to own a firearm, like most of the States that border Maryland. The House Judiciary Committee has historically been hostile to expanding gun rights in Maryland, but this year, when the issue arose in the testomony of a citizen who was also a certified Concealed Carry Permit Instructor for Utah, that States like Utah saw millions of dollars of income from their permitting processes, the lure of greenbacks proved too much for the Legislators to resist. Decades of oppressive gun control, it appears, were over-ridden by the promise of wheelbarrows full of cash rolling in to the State Treasury's General Funds.
It is rumored that the Maryland State Police Department of Permitting will be hiring 275 new employees to process the avalanche of permit applications that will hit Pikesville once this new policy goes into effect. Most of these positions will be filled, according to confidential sources inside the MSP, by relatives of current MSP officials, as is the common practice.
Governor Martin O'Malley refused to comment on this report, and Attorney General Gansler's office is not returning calls, but the author of this article suspects this is because they are both too busy opening new Swiss Bank accounts where they can funnel their percentage of these new projected revenues collected by the Maryland State Police Department of Permitting.
In light of recent Federal Court Rulings which have judged MD's carry permit issuance policies to be unconstitutional, and the growing trend toward expanded gun rights, self-defense and the expected incorporation of the Second Amendment against the States in pending cases soon to come before the SCotUS, Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler is expected to announce to the press on Monday that the State has decided, after careful consideration, to join Vermont, Alaska, Arizona and Wyoming in allowing law-abiding citizens to carry firearms openly and concealed without requiring them to apply for a permit from the State or their local Sheriff. Maryland will make several sweeping adjustments to it's carry laws, including offering the option of a "Shall Issue" permit system for residents and non-residents (primarily for reciprocity reasons), pursuing Reciprocity with every State in the Union that offers a carry permit, and instituting a State Preemption statute (much like Virginia) that prohibits local laws, ordinances, and codes that would restrict the ownership, possession, carry or display of firearms.
Confidential sources inside the MD AG's office have told reporters that this was a difficult decision for the Attorney General, and the Maryland State Police, but they have finally "seen the light" and have decided to move from arbitrary and capricious "May Issue" permitting to completely unregulated "Constitutional Carry" based on a number of factors.
First, they acknowledge that the State is facing a massive debt in their operational budget due to decreased tax revenues, as thousands of law-abiding citizens have fled Maryland in the last few decades due to increased crime, and the State's lack of willingness to recognize the fundamental human right to self defense. Also, the State has seen tremendous drops in tourism revenues as millions of law-abiding citizens avoid vacationing, visiting and even traveling through Maryland based on the State's restrictive handgun carry laws.
But the main deciding factor in Maryland changing it's policies stems from the testimonies given during hearings for HB-45 on 21 February of this year, where it was brought to the attention of Maryland Legislators that Maryland was losing out on millions of dollars of revenue by refusing to issue carry permits to any person who was not otherwise prohibited to own a firearm, like most of the States that border Maryland. The House Judiciary Committee has historically been hostile to expanding gun rights in Maryland, but this year, when the issue arose in the testomony of a citizen who was also a certified Concealed Carry Permit Instructor for Utah, that States like Utah saw millions of dollars of income from their permitting processes, the lure of greenbacks proved too much for the Legislators to resist. Decades of oppressive gun control, it appears, were over-ridden by the promise of wheelbarrows full of cash rolling in to the State Treasury's General Funds.
It is rumored that the Maryland State Police Department of Permitting will be hiring 275 new employees to process the avalanche of permit applications that will hit Pikesville once this new policy goes into effect. Most of these positions will be filled, according to confidential sources inside the MSP, by relatives of current MSP officials, as is the common practice.
Governor Martin O'Malley refused to comment on this report, and Attorney General Gansler's office is not returning calls, but the author of this article suspects this is because they are both too busy opening new Swiss Bank accounts where they can funnel their percentage of these new projected revenues collected by the Maryland State Police Department of Permitting.
