Proposed Maryland Law Could Lead to Confiscation Of Guns from Noncomplying Folks with Criminal Records

As J.D. Tuccille has
noted here regarding Connecticut, people don’t tend to want to
give up weapons they already own just because it is now technically
illegal for them to have them.

Maryland is contemplating testing this out when it comes to
people legally
barred from gun ownership because of their criminal records, as
Associated Press reports via CTPost.com:

The House
of Delegates is considering a bill that would link
Maryland’s gun registry to its criminal database.

State law requires gun owners to surrender their weapons if
they’re convicted of felonies or any violent crimes, but
Del. Luiz
Simmons, D-Montgomery, said Maryland
State Police lack a systematic way of enforcing
this…..

State Police estimate that if they linked the databases, they
would find 10 percent of registered gun owners — about 110,000
people — would be disqualified. They estimate a rate of 1 percent
each year thereafter.

Under Simmons’ plan, police would run a systematic check at
least twice a year.

The Department of Legislative
Services believes it would cost about $300,000 to create
the database. The department also anticipates a need for seven new
full-time troopers to investigate findings from the new database,
with a cost of more than $1 million a year for salaries
and equipment…

Several independent gun advocates submitted written testimony
before a Tuesday hearing. They argued against the measure, calling
it unnecessary and potentially invasive.

“This smacks of a police state mentality,” said a resident
named Ronald
Smith.