ADMINISTRATION ENFORCES OVERREACH OF ‘GUN LOCK' BAN
(1-21-2005) In Montgomery County Circuit Court, the Maryland State Police succeeded in getting dismissed our lawsuit asking that MSP's overreaching enforcement of gun lock laws be reined in to just what the law says. Chief among issues in our complaint is their handling of the ‘integrated mechanical safety device' or IMSD. Maryland law bans sale of new handguns lacking an IMSD, and provides two ways for a gun to meet the standard: it can have either a locking or disabling device (i.e., a “lock” or a “safety”.) Presently MSP only approves sale of handguns with the lock, and we wanted them to accept the other definition in law too. The latest ruling is obviously a major setback for us.
We never got to argue the merits of our case, rather, the dismissal was because the administration convinced a judge we largely lacked standing to file suit. For technical legal reasons (“exhausting administrative remedy” for you legal eagles out there) a licensed dealer is needed as one of the parties, so we can complete the paper trail of applying to transfer a suitable handgun. Once MSP has said ‘no' to that request, a justiciable question can reach a judge.
There's one problem with that route, though. So far all dealers we've encountered are either chilled from working with us (fearing retribution from MSP) or content with the status quo. You see, however temporary it might be, dealers may now sell some handguns otherwise lacking locks by means of attaching suitable (“approved”) external locks. Some such locks go for upwards of $60, and there's good margin on them, so it's purely a business decision.
These actions won't get rid of a bad law – we need the legislature for that – rather, we're just trying to get the administration to enforce the law as written. What's the point of having a legislature if MSP can make up its own laws? A hard fight to enforce overreaching gun control is something you'd expect from Glendening, not Ehrlich.
Of course, some good came from this experience. Besides pinning down the administration on key legal points, we also got them to admit on the record that the ballistic fingerprint law applies only to manufacturers, not wholesalers or distributors. (Gosh, just like the law says – what'd ya know!) We'll bring test cases for this too, though maybe we'll get lucky and have the whole failed program repealed this session first? Time will tell, and so will we.