Montgomery County Lawmaker Launches Petition to Close ‘Gun Control Loophole’

Gov. Martin O’Malley recently signed one of the nation’s strictest gun control measures into law, but one Montgomery County lawmaker wants to make the gun law even tighter.

Maryland Del. Luiz Simmons (D-Dist. 17), of Rockville, has launched a petition to close what he calls “Maryland’s Gun Control Loophole,” his office announced last week.

Here’s how Simmons described the loophole in a news release:

Maryland law states that if a gun owner is convicted of a violent crime they are obligated to surrender their guns. This law is currently unenforceable because the computer database containing people convicted of violent crimes (Department of Corrections) and the computer database containing all gun owners (State Police) do not communicate with each other, so convicted felons are going home to their guns.

The petition urges O’ Malley to create a computer program linking the databases so that the law would be enforced. According to Simmons, it would cost $350,000 to create the program and $35,000 to run it.

As of around 11:30 a.m. Friday, fewer than 18 people had signed the online petition at Change.org.

A spokeswoman for O’Malley told The Gazette the governor supported linking the databases but said it would require new legislation to do so.