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Politics & Government

Councilman Delays Vote On Second-Hand Firearm Screenings

District 7 Councilman Jerry Walker wants to exempt second-hand firearm dealers from documenting their goods with local authorities, but delayed a final vote on Monday.

A change in county legislation that would exempt second-hand gun dealers from recording merchandise with local authorities was deferred Monday before its final vote by a county councilman.

Anne Arundel County Councilman Jerry Walker said second-hand gun dealers are burdened with unnecessary licence fees and procedures, and he wants to trim the fat.

Currently all second-hand dealers are required to pay a licensing fee with the county, and log detailed descriptions of their acquired goods with local police, who use that data to track weapons used in crimes and stolen items. The dealers must hold also onto that merchandise for 30 days.

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These relatively new requirements were put in place in June of 2010, before Walker was on the council.

Walker said firearms are already regulated by the state and federal government, and he does not think an extra layer of filtering is needed. Walker’s legislation would remove licensed firearm dealers from this requirement, placing them in the same category as the operators of antique stores and yard sales.

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“Why do we need an additional layer of bureaucracy, with additional licensing and fees, on this business when they’re already regulated by the state of Maryland and the federal government,” Walker asked.

A request was made to the state Attorney General to issue his opinion on the matter, but minutes before Monday’s meeting began, Walker said he was told that request had been withdrawn. He then moved to defer his legislation until the next meeting.

It will be up for a final vote at the council’s next meeting, scheduled for June 20.

Walker’s motion for deferral held no objection from the council on Monday, but he said he’s not sure where his fellow councilmen will stand on the issue when it’s finally put up for a vote later this month.

Walker said if his bill fails, he will introduce another bill to overturn the entire second-hand dealers bill.

Police push against change

At the council’s May 2 meeting, Walker’s idea received resistance from local police. Anne Arundel Police Major Edward Burgin said detectives need the ability to track weapons used in crimes as well as stolen merchandise. They rely on the logs from store owners to do their work.

Bergin is calling for additional networking with that kind of information, adding it into a statewide database for expanded search capabilities.

But Robert Scharf, owner of the Glen Burnie store Scott’s Gunsmithing, said his business can’t afford the licensing fees the county would require for such a system. However, if he has to pay, Scharf said he wants to be able to screen for stolen or criminal weapons himself, instead of relying on authorities to do the legwork themselves, at their leisure.

He said he wants the ability to search the same database state troopers have access to when they run weapon searches.

“The law doesn’t make sense. I should have access to check something in five minutes, not thirty days,” he said.

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