In the wake of a double homicide in Annapolis? Bay Ridge Gardens apartments, Mayor Ellen Moyer is pushing for lawmakers to draft legislation that requires gun manufacturers to produce microstamp imprints of a gun?s serial number on shell casings.
The Annapolis mayor plans to meet with state leaders today, including House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Annapolis, City Police Chief Joseph Johnson and representatives from several state agencies to push for legislation and secure crime and drug-prevention funding.
“Being able to track where the illegal guns are coming from is really important to reducing the number of illegal guns on the street,” Moyer said.
The serial number would be automatically imprinted on the shell casings after the gun is fired. Her proposal also includes funding for a collaborative drug intervention program among nonprofits and youth-counseling centers.
“If we can close down those markets, that has a major impact on reducing petty and violent crime. Much of the petty crime is to support drug deals,” Moyer said.
Annapolis experienced a record-breaking nine homicides in 2007. The shootings of Cecelia Brown, 51, and Charles Cully, 29, on Jan. 18 marked the city?s first homicides of 2008.
Police spokesman Hal Dalton said the microstamping technology would only help with “crimes of passion.”
“If [microstamping] is just done at a state level and only Maryland does it, most criminals will try to import their weapons or make sure they get one without it,” he said.
The National Rifle Association calls the stamping technology a financial burden to law-abiding citizens.
“This is not an avenue that targets criminals because they are assuming criminal will use firearms as the law tells them to, rather than trying to find a way around it,” said Ashley Varner, NRA spokeswoman.
Dalton said the best option is surveillance cameras to catch criminals in the act.
Blanche Piersawl, a lifelong Eastport resident who has lost two sons to violent crime, said cameras are needed in the public housing communities. “I?m sick and tired of getting phone calls in the middle of the night about someone else?s children,” Piersawl said at a recent council meeting. “There are cameras all over this city except where there needs to be.”
Dalton said much of the crime occurs in public housing communities. “It?s not like these criminals are coming from Mars,” he said.
