Jim Zumbo's anti-gun blog

[fabsroman]

Skeeter,

I guess I just do not worry too much about owning an AR or letting people know that I plan on buying two, so I don't worry if people know that my brother owns one. At the end of the day, even if a law gets passed where AR's are illegal in MD, there will be a grandfather clause whereby you are required to register them with the Department of Public Safety, so the state will know who owns them. I think it is terrible, but if I happen to own a couple by that time I will be sure to register them. For most people, not registering them and getting caught with them would result in a slap on the wrist and the confiscation of the rifle(s). For me, I would be in a whole different world of hurt. I would have to report the guilty verdict to the Board of Accountancy and the Maryland & DC bars, and then I would probably have to go through a review before they renew my licenses to practice accountancy and law. You should have seen what I had to go through before taking the bar exam because I paid a fine for hunting migratory birds over bait, which if I had known better at the time, I could have just gone to Court, asked for probation before judgment, and avoided the entire guilty finding. What a mess.

If this bill gets passed, the big thing will be getting caught committing a crime with one of these "assault weapons" because there is a mandatory 5 year sentence. Honestly, I think that is the only part of the law that makes any sense. People should be able to own any gun they want, but if they commit a crime with one, there should be stiff sentences, and I mean for all guns.