For governor, no recommendation . If you cast your vote based on the Second Amendment, we can't tell you Martin O'Malley is a good choice. He isn't . We have every reason to believe he will be antagonistic to our issue and would sell us down the river at the first politically expedient moment. Trouble is, the same description applies to Bob Ehrlich .
Ehrlich broke his campaign promises on gun policy. In September 2002 he publicly promised to review all gun laws and try to get rid of those that didn't work. (At the same time he promised to do more of whatever improved public safety.) Four years later, where are the studies , and when did even one result in legislation? (Hint: MSP did only one report – on ballistic fingerprinting – and in the entire term, no Ehrlich gun bills were submitted. They didn't try.)
At a closed meeting with representatives of gun and sportsman groups held at campaign headquarters in August, 2002, (where both Ehrlich and Steele made personal appearances) gunowners were promised a “seat at the table” should the GOP team win. Gunowners did everything the campaign needed and wanted, with obvious success, and thus had every reason to believe that Ehrlich would make good too. We should have had fair and balanced implementation of policy, modest (and specific) administrative improvements, and (most important) opportunities for issue advocacy.
Yet here we are four years later with the administration attacking the NRA in the press, and Ehrlich's handling of gun issues demonstrating decisively that nobody knowledgeable about gun policy (much less interested in our issues) could have been at any table when decisions were made.
- Bob Ehrlich closed shooting ranges (a feat Parris Glendening tried but never succeeded in) and today needlessly prevents other ranges from opening.
- When the legislature cut funding for these practices, Ehrlich's people simply ignored the only branch of government able to make appropriations; he spent tax money anyway.
- He drafted, promulgated and adopted regulations on gun locks to ban handguns far in excess of what law allows – then in court fought against people in the gun community in order to defend this practice.
- He made appointments to gun boards based on who had ties with administration family members and cronies.
- He holds carry permit applicants to a needlessly high standard, when courts have ruled the administration alone is free to determine what constitutes ‘need' under existing state law, just so long as that standard is not applied capriciously.
When a ban on semi-auto firearms was proposed last term, pro-gun advocates fought desperately to avoid it ever becoming a question posed to the administration, in fear Ehrlich would sign a modified form of the bill for political opportunism. Ehrlich's team negotiated with legislators to accept new firearms registration requirements (as mandates to report lost or stolen guns), an initiative that failed when the idea was linked with more than the second floor wanted.
Legislators who serve as Ehrlich's apologists in the General Assembly privately defend Ehrlich's pandering to the left, arguing that ‘sacrifices must be made to achieve party parity' – meaning we should quietly vote for GOP officials who fear discussing gun policy in public. Translation: they want our votes for free, so it will be easier to attract liberal votes in building a two-party system. Trouble is, if the GOP gets to parity that way, it will be with candidates who have been trained to believe they have no need to ever promote a pro-gun policy. They might get to parity – but we won't.
If we never expect more, we'll never get more. GOP officials need to know that the only way they win is when we win. Breaking promises to the base can never be a strategy which is rewarded with success .
If Martin O'Malley wins, then he will probably work to make gun issues unpopular for the coming four years. If Bob Ehrlich wins because of gunowner support, then he will make gunowners irrelevant for an entire political generation. All GOP officials will be free to do what they want (including enact gun control in trade to get something they want from the other side) since we'll have just shown that the GOP can screw us and we'll obediently vote for them anyway.
Bottom line: Cast your vote for governor based on other issues than the Second Amendment . We can't advise you that any way you vote for governor will make a difference on behalf of our Second Amendment.