LITTLE ROCK — The gun lobby and its acolytes in Annapolis are mounting an all out assault to subvert Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s bill to establish what would be among the nation’s most stringent gun-licensing regimens. They are taking special aim at the core of the governor’s program: a requirement that gun buyers submit not only to background checks, as they already do, but also to digital fingerprinting by the state police.
The logic of fingerprinting handgun buyers-the bill exempts purchasers of hunting rifles and shotguns, which are mainly used by sportsmen-is overwhelming. Criminals wanting handguns frequently procure them through friends or other straw buyers. Those straw buyers might not be discouraged by background checks, or they might circumvent them by giving fake names. Fingerprinting is a more muscular deterrent that would all but eliminate the use of false identities.
Opponents of the legislation contend that fingerprinting is burdensome. Nonsense. Hundreds of thousands of Marylanders in several dozen occupations are already required by law to submit to fingerprinting. They include locksmiths, nursing assistants, jockeys, mortgage originators, teachers, casino workers and, in Calvert County, palm readers. Does the state have a lesser interest in verifying the identities of gun buyers?
The Maryland legislation would be beneficial in a number of other ways. It would ban assault weapons; tighten security at schools; impose tougher restrictions on mental health patients who would attempt to purchase weapons; and give state police new tools to crack down on rogue gun dealers.
But the measure’s core is the fingerprinting provision. Removing it would hand a victory not just to the gun lobby but also to criminals and their gunbuying accomplices. That must not be allowed to happen.
Editorial, Pages 14 on 02/28/2013