My Submission To County Commissioners Vote On Creating Gun-Free Zones

[alismith]

The county commissioners I wrote to are not my county's commissioners, however, it appeared that anyone in the state was allowed to comment on this topic, so I took the time and tried to send my original message.


However, when I tried to fill in the comment section on their webpage, all comments were limited to 2,000 words, so I had to shorten my original message. I shortened it to this:

Dear Commissioners:
I ask for your consideration to read my response to that bill.
Firstly, there is really no need to implement this law as the only ones you would be targeting would be those people who would follow the law, in the first place. I’m speaking about those people who have been vetted by the Maryland State Police to possess a Maryland Handgun Permit (CCW permit). Those with MD Handgun Permits are vetted 3 times by the MSP and must meet all requirements of the law.
Those people who would follow the law you wish to implement are those who are law-abiding citizens. Criminals would disregard this law. (A criminal is, by definition, one who would ignore a law.)
Another aspect to consider is the legal responsibility of what this law implies. If you prohibit law-abiding citizens their right to defend themselves and others, then you must provide that same protection for them. Should something happen to someone who was legally approved by the Maryland State Police to carry a firearm, then you might be open to some form of litigation where the person involved, or their family, might seek accountability and/or compensation for prohibiting them their right to protect themselves, while failing to provide that protection for them.
Add this to the fact that you are expressing your doubt that the Maryland State Police have done an adequate job effectively vetting all those they approved for possessing a Maryland Handgun Permit. You are calling into question their ability to perform adequately a thorough background investigation of those they approved for this permit.
What it comes down to is this: who would follow this law; a criminal or a law-abiding citizen?
By voting against implementing this law, nothing would change for those areas this law would cover. Business would go on as usual. The advantage to voting against this law is that you are not giving a criminal a distinct advantage over innocent people.
Sincerely,



No idea how this will be taken, but I hope it might give them something new to think about..

[imanaknut]

Great letter but I seriously doubt that most of them will understand what you have so nicely laid out, specifically that criminals don't follow the law, which is why they are called criminals.

Of course it doesn't hurt to try, because as I have always said to friends, if you don't try you are guaranteed to lose.

[alismith]

The main problem is that I had to shorten it to 2,000 words. It flowed much better and made my points clearer if I could have sent the original message.