WASHINGTON — Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley will seek to institute some of the nation’s strictest gun-licensing requirements, ban assault weapons, and restrict visitor access to schools in one of the most expansive government responses sought to last month’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Perhaps most controversially, O’Malley will ask the General Assembly to force prospective gun owners to provide fingerprints to state police, complete a hands-on weapon-familiarization and gun-safety course, and undergo a background check to be licensed.
Comments
In addition to a fingerprint, a waiting period should be imposed in order to do a thorough background check for both reputation and mental health. In addition, a ballistics test should be required and filed with a national data center before the gun is released to the purchaser.
This is just going to make him a target, forgive the pun, for the NRA to try and attack him on some grounds and of course the ever present straw man that it will lead to jack booted cops coming to take your guns away.
I have no problem with this aspect of our laws here in the Commonwealth. I gladly have my full prints on file and if they had wanted a DNA sample, they can have that too. I have nothing to hide.