guns – Sandy Rosenberg

January 11 – Acting Before the Supreme Court Does

January 11, 2022 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore City), the longest-serving current member of the General Assembly, said the level of activity in any legislative session — including in election years — is often dictated by outside forces.

He observed that even though the legislature is expected to take action on abortion rights and gun control legislation this session, pending Supreme Court rulings on abortion and guns, depending on when they’re delivered, could galvanize lawmakers into more aggressive action.

“I think the circumstances are such that a lot of issues will get an airing this year and we may be addressing more than we would normally do in an election year,” Rosenberg said.

(Above is from article in MarylandMatters.org)

It’s not until June that the Supreme Court usually issues its opinions in the most important and controversial cases.

Our 90-day legislative session in Annapolis ends on April 11.

Consequently, our bill drafting on abortion and guns has to anticipate what action we should require after we adjourn.

This year, those decisions will also have an effect on the state-wide elections.

Maryland General Assembly Set to Convene in Another Session Shaped by COVID

Justice Scalia on the 2nd Amendment

February 16, 2018 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2018 Legislative Diary | No Comments

In Heller v. District of Columbia, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the following in his majority opinion:

Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.

From Blackstone through the 19th-century cases, commentators and courts routinely explained that the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.

For example, the majority of the 19th-century courts to consider the question held that prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons were lawful under the Second Amendment or state analogues.

Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment , nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.

(citations omitted)

Bipartisanship

February 15, 2018 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2018 Legislative Diary | No Comments

There is no bipartisanship when it comes to guns.

The reason: primaries.

My Republican colleagues fear a challenge from the right wing if they deviate from the party line.

Ditto for family planning or abortion.

A Republican member said to me, “I can’t touch family planning. That’s Planned Parenthood.”

Education is another matter.

Later today, the Kirwan Commission will announce its preliminary recommendations for funding our pre-K-12 public schools.

Yesterday, Governor Hogan announced that he was for a “lock box” constitutional amendment to ensure that slots money is used for additional spending, not to meet our existing statutory obligations.

You can read about it on the front page of today’s Sun.

Democratic members have already announced that they would be introducing such legislation.