What Kind of State Do Marylanders Want to Raise Their Children In?

“If this (gun control) does get passed, it’s going to be struck down and all they’re going to do is cost the Maryland taxpayer tons of money defending it in court. Don’t pass this unconstitutional law,” said Paul Brockman, a self-employed contractor from Hanover, Maryland, and spokesperson for The Patriot Picket, an Annapolis Second Amendment activist group. “These are the most lawful, law-abiding people out here, and they want to take away our ability to carry a gun to defend ourselves.”

Brockman and a half-dozen other picketers were in the vanguard of protesters Tuesday morning on Rowe Boulevard and Taylor Avenue waving signs at incoming commuters. A few dozen more protesters joined them on Lawyer’s Mall later.

Their view is not shared by the chief sponsor of the bulk of the gun control legislation heard Tuesday.

“The real question that my committee is going to face is what kind of world do we want to live in?” said Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher, D-Montgomery, a member of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, which conducted hearings on the bills Tuesday. “What kind of state do we want to raise our children in? A state awash in guns, where every dispute of a routine nature can turn into violence?”

— Michelle Larkin and Michael Charles in Activists gather in Annapolis as hearings begin on gun control