Dozens of gun control advocates from around Maryland gathered in Annapolis on Tuesday to push for a ban on so-called 鈥済host guns.鈥�
It鈥檚 not the first time lawmakers have tried to pass such a bill, and it鈥檚 not the first time advocates have rallied for it. But now that a student from Rockville鈥檚 Magruder High is clinging to life after getting shot with one of those guns last week, there was new urgency among those who attended.
鈥淔or me the urgency of this issue has never felt so close to home,鈥� said Melissa Ladd, who leads the Maryland chapter of the group Moms Demand Action. She also lives near Magruder High School.
鈥淣ow an entire school community has been forever impacted,” she said. “That includes my friends鈥� children and my former students.鈥�
鈥淕host guns鈥� are usually sent in pieces and then assembled by the owner. They typically are untraceable if they鈥檙e used in a crime, and have been seized by police in greater numbers in recent years. Several prosecutors in Maryland are backing the proposed ban, and Ladd said the issue is now definitely on parents鈥� radar where she lives.
There was 鈥渁 lot of shock, to start — a lot of anger,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he ghost gun issue is just being made aware to many people who were not aware of it previously.鈥�
鈥淪tudent do not deserve to fear homemade weapons, and we do not deserve to bear the weight of gun violence on our shoulders,鈥� said Lily Freeman, a senior at Walt Whitman High School and the co-founder of that school鈥檚 chapter of Students Demand Action.
鈥淲e are intimately familiar with the corners of our classrooms from hiding during active shooter drills because we have grown up hearing the names Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas and Santa Fe and Austin East and Oxford and too many others.
鈥淭oday I am thinking of the Magruder High School community,鈥� added Freeman.
Referencing the lockdown that went on for hours after the shooting on Friday, she said some students 鈥渉ad to urinate in plastic bottles not knowing whether their classmate, their friend, was OK.鈥�
She admitted the long list of shootings have started to numb her emotions on the issue.
鈥淚 have been made to feel that my emotions don鈥檛 matter,鈥� said Freeman. 鈥淭hat students鈥� emotions don鈥檛 matter because we have seen such little change in our lives when it comes to gun violence.鈥�
But when it comes to ghost guns, lawmakers who have tried repeatedly to ban them over the last few years feel like this year might be different.
鈥淚t鈥檚 time to do this. It鈥檚 time to do this, this year,鈥� said Del. Luke Clippinger of Baltimore City. When he鈥檚 not working in the General Assembly, he works as a prosecutor in Anne Arundel County and chairs the House committee that will take up the bill. He promises a quick hearing and passage.
鈥淎 lot of the guns that we鈥檙e seeing now are these ghost guns, over and over again,鈥� said Clippinger. 鈥淚n some cases, they鈥檙e kids who have gotten them off the internet and that have put them together themselves and are terrorizing schools, terrorizing our neighborhoods.鈥�
But while he told those who assembled for the rally that the bill would get passed this year, he also conceded the legislation won鈥檛 be nearly as effective unless federal regulations are also implemented.
鈥淚 know the Biden administration has been working on the regulations,鈥� said Clippinger. 鈥淭hey have been working on getting that put together. That鈥檚 our next step.鈥�
鈥淲e have to take the lead on the state level,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e have to demonstrate that we see that there鈥檚 an issue.鈥�
Bills to ban ghost guns were officially getting filed by members of the state House and Senate Tuesday, and the oversight committees are expected to move them quickly.
When asked to comment on the latest effort for a ghost gun ban, a spokesman for Gov. Larry Hogan, Mike Ricci, said “the governor will thoughtfully review any legislation that reaches his desk.”
