Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley on Thursday signed into law one of the United States’ toughest gun control measures, even as opponents vowed to overturn it.
The legislation prompted by the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre requires handgun buyers to undergo safety training and submit fingerprints to obtain a license.
It also bans the sale of 45 types of assault weapons, which have been linked to at least 461 U.S. deaths since 2004, according to the governor’s office.
Opponents of the changes say they aren’t planning to seek any sort of public vote/referendum on the bill, but will instead offer support to an NRA lawsuit which challenges the legality of the new regulations. Similar legislation has been passed in Colorado, New York, and Connecticut following a recent uptick in mass shooting incidents.
The State Department has asked Defense Distributed to take down its controversial 3D-printed gun blueprint. “I immediately complied and I’ve taken down the files,” said the group’s Cody Wilson. “But this is a much bigger deal than guns. It has implications for the freedom of the web.”
This has definitely been our most well-received download. I don’t think any of us predicted it would be this much.Defense Distributed-affiliated developer Haroon Khalid • Discussing the success of the controversial group’s 3D-printed gun blueprints, which have been downloaded 100,000 times since they were released over the weekend. The distribution method isn’t without controversy, either: The group’s files are being hosted on Kim Dotcom’s Mega service. One member of Congress, Rep. Steve Israel, wants to ban such devices.
Security checkpoints, background checks, and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print plastic firearms at home and bring those firearms through metal detectors with no one the wiser. …Now that this technology appears to be upon us, we need to act now to extend the ban on plastic firearms.New York Democratic Rep. Steve Israel • Calling for a ban on plastic firearms fashioned through the use of 3D printers. The first wholly 3D-printed gun has been produced by Cody Wilson, a 25-year-old law student at the University of Texas, who gave Forbes magazine an inside look at its production. The blue and white colored plastic gun, which looks a great deal more like a toy than a potentially lethal weapon, has been named “the Liberator” by Wilson, who runs a company that intends to release the CAD (computer-aided design) file for the do-it-yourself gun online, free for all. Which means with a 3D printer (available for just $1,300 or so these days), and a modicum of practice, whatever background check system the U.S. does have, however spotty, might be circumvented entirely. Rep. Israel urgently wants this avoided, by an expansion of the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988, to include passages specific to 3D-printed guns. source
54% of the Senate voted for background checks, and they together represented roughly 63% of America’s population. But because the Senate is not a democratic body, majority support wasn’t enough to win that vote. The world’s greatest deliberative body, ladies and gentlemen.
It’s about home protection. If you are a single mom or dad and can’t afford a shotgun, we’ll give one to you.Tucson resident Shaun McClusky • Discussing his work with the Armed Citizen Project, a program whose goal is to hand out guns to people in working-class neighborhoods in cities around the country, including Tucson, which had a major shooting just two years ago. (Yes, they do background checks before handing them out.) The approach, understandably, has drawn controversy, along with a response from a local activist in Tucson, who launched a competing endeavor called the School Supply Giveaway campaign.
Momentum grew for Senate passage of gun legislation when a bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday announced agreement on deals to expand background checks and tighten laws against gun trafficking.
The first breakthrough came in a deal on background checks announced by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who agreed on an amendment that would exempt all “personal” transfers of weapons between individuals, but would close the infamous gun show loophole and also require background checks on Internet sales.
“All personal transfers are not touched whatsoever,” said Manchin. “We’ve done these two [gun shows and Internet sales], and we’ve done them and done them right.”
While the bill is likely to be passed by the Senate, it’s unclear if it has any chance of passage in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, with many GOP lawmakers remaining openly opposed to new gun control legislation. Still, the development is likely to be welcomed by many proponents of the bill, some of whom didn’t expect the agreement to survive a filibuster.
“[A]s a practical matter … if you are a farmer, 30 miles from town and you want to transfer a shotgun to a neighbor, you’ve got to go 30 miles into town, find the federal licensed firearm dealer, fill out the paperwork, pay the fee, have the background check and then you have a responsibility to keep those records for inspection by the government and that’s a huge burden on citizens.” - Asa Hutchison, former Republican congressman who led the National Rifle Association’s school safety initiative.
Re-Write:
“[A]s a practical matter … if you are a farmer, 30 miles from town and you want to transfer a
shotguncar to a neighbor, you’ve got to go 30 miles into town, find thefederal licensed firearm dealerDMV,fill out the paperworkchange the title, pay the fee,have the background checkhave insurance and a license and then you have a responsibility to keep those records for inspection by the government and that’s a huge burden on citizens.”
Today in making an argument through editing.
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
For those who say I’m a hypocrite because I have an armed bodyguard, lets make one thing clear: No one in my employ is allowed to carry a large magazine and NO ONE IS ASKING ANYONE TO GIVE UP THEIR RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS, though it is in the vested interests of those who profit by gun sales to make it seem so. It’s just the type of arms, the easy access and the means with which to cause massive devastation to good and innocent people that I hope we can limit. It’s the quality of mercy, the tiniest spark of empathy that I know lives in every one of us that I wish to ignite in you.Jim Carrey responds to his critics. (via mediaite)
Men with loaded rifles intimidate moms gathered at a gun safety rally. Watch what happened.
There’s protesting in favor of your cherished rights, which countless second amendment advocates have done reasonably, respectfully and unapologetically, and then there’s intimidation. Pretty hard to argue this as anything but the latter.
A day after excoriating Congress with a powerful “Shame on U.S.” front cover that took the U.S. Senate to task for removing the assault weapons ban from the larger gun reform bill, the New York Daily News is keeping pressure on DC. You might call this unrelenting, unfettered advocacy journalism. CHECK ALL THIS OUT HERE.
Unflinchingly meta, but unflinching all the same. HV’s right. Great advocacy journalism.
I have said time and time again I want people to have the ability to vote on assault weapons, mental health, safety in schools, federal trafficking, clips — everything. But I cannot do that until I get a bill on the floor. Right now her amendment, using the most optimistic numbers, has less than 40 votes. That’s not 60.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid • Explaining why Senate Democrats are putting the kibosh on legislation to ban so-designated “assault weapons” — at least for now. Procedurally, this is a very old story — despite maintaining a 53-seat majority in the U.S. Senate, Democrats are unable to bring legislation to the floor without either passing a 60-vote threshold, removing the now nearly-automatic threat of Republican filibuster. Consequently, Reid’s plan is to remove the assault weapons ban from a larger gun control bill, and add it back in as an amendment after it actually reaches the floor — that is, if the support even exists at that time to pass it. If Reid’s math is correct, they’d still need another ten votes to secure a majority (assuming the obvious Joe Biden tiebreaker), ostensibly culled from fellow Democrats still dubious of such a ban. source
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