A Howard County state delegate will push legislation aimed at slashing machete use in Howard County next year.
In the coming legislative session, Delegate Shane Pendergrass, D-District 13, will try to make it illegal for Howard County residents to carry a machete at night. The bill was proposed by Howard County Council Chairman Calvin Ball, Pendergrass said.
“There has been an increase in gang activity statewide, and some of the most violent gangs use machetes as their weapon of choice,” Ball said.
Police have noticed an increase in tagging and graffiti in Howard County from Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), a gang known to use machetes, according to Congressional testimony from Detective First Class Kelly Smith of the Howard County Police. Since 2001, police documented 57 incidents of the gang?s activity and graffiti in Savage, Elkridge, Columbia and Ellicott City, Smith said.
“What I really wanted to do was to offer the police more tools to be able to effectively do their job when it comes to dealing with potential gang violence,” Ball said.
The proposed bill defines a machete as a heavy knife at least 18 inches long, with a blade at least 1.562 inches wide at the widest point.
A person who breaks the law would be subject to a maximum imprisonment of three years, a fine of $1,000 or both.
“We will work with the County Council to support any bill that promotes public safety,” said Officer Pfc. Jamie Myers, a spokesman for the Howard County Police.
A recent high-profile machete attack in the county ended in a life sentence for a Columbia man.
On Dec. 13, a Howard County judge sentenced Frederick Evrod Jones, 54, to life in prison after he attacked his estranged wife with a machete earlier this year. Jones reportedly hid in the bushes in front of her Columbia condominium before the attack, in which he cut her face, fractured her skull and damaged both her hands.
