by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

The Maryland Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee on Apr. 2 narrowly rejected SB-288, a bill that would have banned the sale of so-called assault weapons. The number of guns that would have been banned varies from 19 to 45 or more, depending on who interpreted the bill’s language.

In defeating the measure by a 6-5 margin, the deciding vote was cast by Sen. John A. Giannetti Jr., a Democrat whose district includes portions of Anne Arundel and Prince George’s Counties, who had announced his opposition to the bill a month earlier.

The committee vote had been delayed by Chairman Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery) after Giannetti made his opposition to the bill public in early March. The Takoma Park Gazette claimed that Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. had convinced Giannetti that passage of the bill would not reduce crime.

Gun control advocates had pulled out all the stops for passage of SB-288 this year with the likelihood that the 1994 federal gun ban would expire in September. With the defeat of the proposed ban on semi-automatic long guns, many of which are commonly used for hunting and competition, the antis appear to have lost their last chance for more Maryland gun laws in this session of the state legislature. Thirty other gun-related bills remain, but lawmakers were not expected to vote on them with less than two weeks left in the 2004 General Assembly session.

The National Rifle Association credited defeat of the measure to the outpouring of grassroots opposition to the bill and the number of its members who contacted legislators and attended hearings.

Constituent input certainly played a role in how Giannetti and others voted. In early March, The Laurel Leader reported that Giannetti said his office had received up to 500 e-mails per day and 300 phone calls on SB-288.

“I think the gun debate died when (Mr. Giannetti) decided he wasn’t going to support any kind of ban,” said House Speaker Michael E. Busch, also an Anne Arundel County Democrat, according to The Washington Times.

The Times reported that Sen. Robert J. Garagiola, (D-Montgomery), the bill’s sponsor, acknowledged that he tried to amend the legislation to get Giannetti to change his mind. The proposal in the General Assembly would have banned sales of the 45 models that are now legal but would not affect guns already sold.

Giannetti has said that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, would veto the bill, The Times reported.

The 30 remaining gun-related bills—not expected to make it to the floor—include: efforts to lift a ban on selling some guns without safety devices; allow more residents to carry a concealed firearm, and making it a crime to use a toy gun to commit a crime.

Delegate Neil F. Quinter (D-Howard) sponsored companion legislation to Garagiola’s bill. This is the second straight year Garagiola and Quinter have tried to pass a more stringent ban on so-called assault weapons in the state.