With 81 "children" dead in 2001 due to gun violence Maryland garners an A- http://www.bradycampaign.com/
http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/0104/rc04/md.pdf 7TH ANNUAL REPORT CARD â KEEPING KIDS SAFE FROM GUN VIOLENCE Maryland Receives Grade of A- On Laws Protecting Kids From Guns (Washington, D.C.) In its seventh annual analysis of state laws protecting children from gun violence, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence united with the Million Mom March, highlighted its progress in protecting children from gun violence. The analysis noted an encouraging decrease in the number of children killed by guns. This year, ten states received âSensible Safety Starâ awards for taking responsible steps to make children safer from gun violence, but nine other states were sent to the âTime-Out Chairâ for irresponsibly weakening state gun laws. Maryland gun laws received an A- because its gun laws are better than most states. Maryland requires guns to be sold with internal child-safety locks, requires individuals to be at least 21 years old before buying or owning a handgun and holds adults responsible for leaving loaded guns around children. Maryland also requires ballistic imaging of handguns, bans Saturday night specials and assault pistols and limits gun traffickers with a one-handgun-per-month limit. In 2001, the most recent year for which data is available, 81 children and teenagers in Maryland died from gunfire. Maryland could do more to protect children by requiring handguns to be fully âchild-proofedâ so that only authorized people can fire them and by expanding its ballistic fingerprint law to include rifles and shotguns. They could also strengthen their assault weapons ban and will indeed have the opportunity to do so by acting on legislation that will be introduced in the upcoming session. Unfortunately, 31 states received grades of D or F in this yearâs report card. Not surprisingly, many of these states have child and teen firearm death rates that are higher than the national average. For example, the average firearms death rate of youth in the eight states that received an F grade was 33% higher than the average firearms death rate for the 10 states that received an A or a B. âMaryland has earned a good grade for protecting children from gun violence, but as long as any parent has to bury their child due to gun violence our work is not finished,â said Lillian Pubillones Nolan of the Maryland Million Mom March united with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. âMaryland should lead the country in protecting children from gun violence,â said Leah Barrett Executive Director of CeaseFire Maryland. âWe look forward to working with the legislature on sensible gun laws such as a strong ban on all assault weapons and handgun safety licensing.â _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof
