[fabsroman]

This crap really pisses me off. I just sent this to my state rep.

Mr. Garagiola,

I’ll start off by stating that I oppose Senate Bill 43 and any restriction on the sale of possession of firearms by law abiding citizens. If I am not mistaken, part of your campaign last year relied on common sense legislation, wherein you were very careful not to set forth that you are a democrat. I too believe in common sense legislation and believe that political party affiliation should not block it. However, I do not believe that this bill is common sense legislation. I also believe your campaign relied on the fact that you had been involved in the military. As such, I am sure you are aware that none of these “assault” weapons commit crimes. Further, how many crimes were committed in 2006 with the “assault” weapons listed in the proposed Md. Code Ann. Pub. Safety §5-101? I am willing to bet that more people died in the State of Maryland last year from aggressive driving than from the assault weapons listed in Senate Bill 43. Maybe, just maybe, if you can provide me with some facts on why you support this bill, I might not be so against it. If it is just the mere fear of these “weapons”, then I have no support for it. As an example, please do not provide me with the 2001 sniper shooting case because I think that was a terrible screw up on law enforcement’s part and the chief of police for Montgomery County who later wrote a book about the entire matter.

When I am not practicing law or accountancy, or preparing tax returns, I spend the rest of my time with my family and/or outdoors. I am an avid outdoorsman, and I spend a lot of time and money on cycling, hunting, shooting, fishing, and boating, in no particular order. I have been hunting and shooting with my father since I was five (5) years old, and have been using firearms since I was seven (7) years old. Firearms were a big part of our trips to the “country” and they continue to be a big part of my life. I still hunt and shoot with my father, brothers, and sisters whenever I get the chance. While I prefer shooting sporting clays at several ranges around the state, with the majority of my shooting being at Prince Georges County Trap & Skeet right by NASA in Greenbelt, I would not hesitate to take time out to go shooting with my brother and try out his Bushmaster AR-15.

Senate Bill 43 mentions Bushmaster semi-automatic rifles, but does not designate AR-15 or AR-10. Is this merely a cute way of getting uninformed people to think that AR-15’s and AR-10’s are not being banned, or is it that the only AR-15 and AR-10 being banned is the Bushmaster series, which is generally the cheapest of the series at around $1,000 for an entry level gun. I find it extremely hard to believe that the majority of violent crime occurring in this state is with the use of AR-15’s, AR-10’s, AR-100’s, AR180’s, Barrett light .50 cal semi autos, or the other expensive firearms that are listed in Md. Code Ann. Pub. Safety §5-101. Again, if you can provide me with some facts on this, I am willing to listen.

Last year, I was interested in buying an AR-15 and an AR-10 and was appalled to see a similar bill to Senate Bill 43 in the legislature. Luckily, it did not pass and I was not forced to spend four thousand dollars ($4,000.00) for the guns last year, and I am hoping that will be the case with Senate Bill 43 this year. I would prefer to buy them when money is not an issue (i.e., I have a baby daughter on the way). Please take note that I am adamantly against this bill and I do reside in your district. In fact, my father and brother have been clients of Paul Stein and I have referred other criminal cases to Mr. Stein on occasion. In fact, I have lived in this community my entire life. If I am not mistaken, you have moved here from Michigan. I attended elementary, intermediate, and high school in this county. I went to the University of Maryland for undergrad and the University of Baltimore School of Law, and have remained in this county after graduating law school. In fact, most of my clients are from this county. My parents, brothers, and sisters continue to reside in this county too. In your campaign literature, you seemed like a stand up guy, so get tough on criminals, not on gun owners. For the most part, gun owners are law abiding citizens, and to merely ban us from having these guns does not mean a criminal will not be able to get them some where else. At one time, the federal government had banned most of these weapons, and that ban was allowed to die when the sunset provision came into effect. I have not noticed an increase in crime from the allowed sale of these weapons. Spend more time building jails for criminals and instituting longer mandatory sentences, instead of spending time taking guns away from law abiding citizens. Be tough on criminals, don’t make law abiding citizens criminals merely because they do not register their “assault” weapons by December 1, 2007.

I could probably write a lot more about this subject since I am so passionate about it, but my clients’ tax returns are calling. I apologize if this e-mail is not up to legal standards, but I’m not getting paid for it and do not have time to proof read it. Maybe one day, we can sit down and talk about this matter in depth.

Very truly yours,

Fabrizio Roman