(October, 2007) Maryland State Police continue to deny (as they have since August) applications to purchase a regulated firearm (handgun or select long guns) if not accompanied by a release so police can access any health records that might be in a government system. As predicted, the picture is still changing. Unlike their original position (which was that they had authority all along) MSP has doubled back and now proposes a new regulation that would give them authority. (They still enforce the restriction though.) A public hearing on this is unlikely – the reg is just being rammed through. In the mean time, MSP’s tacit admission of their lack of authority confirms that up to 6,000 applicants have given police unfettered health record access, due to an illegal and unauthorized policy.
[It is not just mental health being checked: we now know that anyone who has sought help for alcohol or drug abuse is at risk of being charged on a paperwork violation. The feds are doing their part too. The Veterans Administration reports about 1,000 vets a month to DOJ as disabled for gun ownership based on health records, all without lawful adjudication. Many are Marylanders on partial disability, yet they nonetheless become ineligible to own a gun.]
Legislators watched as MSP enacted its own law without pushback. Now they want to see how much they can get for free. A new committee to investigate ‘mental health and guns’ has been formed, and while it isn’t chaired by a Brady organization paid lobbyist (as has happened in the past) its slant is clear. Key players make no attempt to disguise their interests. Ideas floating about: one-gun-a-month limit on all guns; fingerprinting, written tests, health record release and licensing for all gun owners; a reporting obligation for loss or theft of any gun; and more. This is what you invite when you telegraph weakness. Defense of liberty demands constant vigilance and a williness to act.