Maryland gun owners got a dose of bad news on Thursday, when Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley signed into law some of the country’s harshest gun control laws — but the National Rifle Association has already declared it will challenge them.
The new laws will require handgun purchasers to go through safety training and submit their fingerprints to the state police to obtain their gun license. It also bans 45 types of assault weapons and limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds, as Reuters reported.
Yet according to the NRA, the law, which goes into effect on October 1, violates the Second Amendment.
“The National Rifle Association’s position and concerns will be made very clear when the lawsuit we will support is filed, after the law goes into effect,” Jacqueline Otto told Red Alert Politics in an email.
O’Malley proposed the new legislation back in January, shortly after the Sandy Hook shooting brought gun control back into the national debate. Maryland is one of five states — New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Hawaii — with the more stringent licensing procedures.
“States with similar licensing provisions have substantially lower gun death rates than states that do not, so if we want better results we have to make better choices, and this legislation is part of that series of the better choices that we are making,” O’Malley said.
The new O’Malley law doesn’t impact the licensing for hunting rifles and shotguns and won’t require assault weapon manufacturers based in the state to stop production.
