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Maryland's Second Amendment Nightmare: Coming Soon to a State Near You?
By Jonathan F. Keiler

If you want to see how firearm sales can be effectively banned, look no farther than the so-called "free state" of Maryland. Although Maryland's newly promulgated "assault gun" ban and licensing requirements will not go into effect until October, it is already nearly impossible to reasonably purchase a pistol or other "regulated" weapon in the state, and those who do face waiting periods of 50-60 days and increasing daily. After October 1, with additional training requirements (including range time), fingerprinting, and licensing, it's likely that waiting times will increase exponentially, and that would-be legal gun owners will face periods of additional months, or conceivably years, before they can receive a pistol or other regulated weapon (though nevermore a so-called "assault weapon.") Under this scenario, it's hard to see how many gun dealers will remain in business, or why online outfits would bother to sell here (some already don't).

Going into a Maryland gun shop today is like going into an East German department store in the 1970s or '80s. You'll find little but empty shelves, or shelves filled with weapons already labeled "sold" but whose owners can't yet pick their guns up. Even without Maryland's draconian new gun law, weapons sales in the state are already heavily regulated. Maryland's ambitious leftist Democratic governor, Martin O'Malley, and a pliant Democratic-dominated legislature passed the harsh new measures despite the fact that Beretta operates its U.S. plant in Maryland and threatened to move and take hundreds of jobs with it if Maryland passed the new legislation. That made no difference to the Democrats.

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