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Alan Gottlieb to crime-ridden Baltimore: 'How's that new gun control thing working?' (VIDEO)

by S.H. Blannelberry

Alan Gottlieb, the Chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) and the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, slammed Maryland lawmakers and Gov. Martin O'Malley for passing onerous gun control laws that were supposed to begin to stem the tide of violence in crime-ridden Baltimore.

"Maryland lawmakers passed fingerprinting and licensing to prevent criminals from getting guns and thus reduce gun violence," Gottlieb said in a press release. "Evidently, criminals didn't get the message."

While the new restrictions under The Firearm Safety Act of 2013 haven't fully kicked in yet, they take effect on Oct. 1, many supporters believed that the mere passage of the sweeping gun control bill would encourage criminals to start reforming their nefarious ways.

Yet, as the Baltimore Sun reported, the first official week of summer has been plagued by violence. Forty people where shot — 16 of them fatally wounded — in a 10 day span, which prompted Gottlieb to question the merits and efficacy of the impending law.

"Criminals who ignore the current law will continue to ignore the new law as they have done elsewhere," he predicted. "The new law was passed with good intentions, but surely the Baltimore clergy and their colleagues around the state know where the road paved with good intentions leads."

"Over the past few weeks," he continued, "we have seen Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence taking credit for pushing through the new law. Does that mean when it doesn't work, they will acknowledge their error and help to undo the damage they have done to the rights of law-abiding citizens?"

Thus far, at the midpoint of 2013, Baltimore has notched 117 homicides, the highest in six years, leaving many city leaders to trumpet for a renewed "call to action."

"We are at crisis level," City Councilman Nick Mosby, who represents the city's west side, told the Baltimore Sun. "It's not going to get better with business-as-usual procedures."

All of this really goes to show how gun owners in Baltimore are in a lose/lose situation. The reason? Regardless of whether crime increases or decreases down the road after the full enactment of The Firearms Safety Act of 2013, city leaders are going to want tougher restrictions on law-abiding gun owners.

For example, if, by some miracle, violent crime goes down in Baltimore in the coming months, then lawmakers will argue that the FSA of 2013 worked and needs to be expanded to further reduce crime. If violent crime increases or remains at its current level, which is the more likely scenario unless city leaders take major, pragmatic steps to reduce violence (i.e., legalize drugs), then the FSA of 2013 didn't go far enough and needs to be expanded until it does reduce crime.

In either case, gun owners will continue to see their Second Amendment rights eroded in the name of "crime prevention" and "public safety." It's a sad, downward spiral with no end in sight.

Alan Gottlieb to crime-ridden Baltimore: 'How's that new gun control thing working?' (VIDEO)
http://www.guns.com/2013/07/02/alan-gottlieb-to-crime-ridden-baltimore-hows-that-new-gun-control-thing-working-video/

John Hames