Maryland is awash in guns, and more are on the way
U.S. firearms sales have reached a record high thanks largely to first-time buyers. As a result, the federal background check system is swamped. Gun violence is up and mass shootings are a regular occurrence in this country, with the April 15 attack on a FedEx facility in Indianapolis that left eight dead just the latest example. In Maryland, there’s been a big uptick in not only in firearm sales, but specifically in people wanting to carry handguns. And, as if on cue, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case that could result in states like Maryland no longer being able to set limits on concealed carry permits. In other words, want to tote a handgun in your back pocket? The high court’s conservative majority will be asking: Why should someone have to demonstrate a reason to do so or perhaps the ability to handle it safely?
None of these are welcome developments. But they also aren’t terribly surprising. Gun rights advocates have wrongly drilled into the public the notion that more guns mean greater safety — when just the opposite is true, if only because the presence of a gun in a household enables self-harm, as suicides by gun greatly outnumber both homicides and incidents of self-defense, and make up about two-thirds of all gun deaths.
Two other factors likely weigh heavily. The COVID-19 pandemic has stirred unease and fear, as have the mass shootings and public unrest, the latter magnified by the sometimes overwrought coverage one can find of police brutality protests on a certain cable television network. Meanwhile, the election of Joe Biden as president has raised fears among traditional gun owners (much as happened when Barack Obama was elected) that the federal government will soon be coming for their weapons — and perhaps ammo, too.
Baltimore’s continued homicide woes don’t help either.
But this idea that adding more guns to the household inventory will somehow prevent city violence (which is so often triggered by a pattern of drug turf wars, conflicts over criminal profits, personal grudges and then retaliation for previous attacks) is nonsensical. That Baltimore County is home to the single biggest increase in regulated gun permit applications within Maryland (13,048 approved last year alone as applications statewide rose 50% from 2019, according to the Maryland State Police) suggests some folks are buying into this flawed logic, however. Small wonder that last month alone, the FBI performed almost 4.7 million background checks compared to 1 million fewer in March of 2020. These are good times for companies like Smith & Wesson and Remington.
In a sensible world, we might rely on people to come to their senses and recognize that the more guns, the more likely that guns wind up in the wrong hands. And we might also count on wise jurists to weigh gun ownership rights against other constitutional rights like, you know, walking around without getting shot to death. Just eight states, Maryland included, require applicants seeking to carry concealed weapons to demonstrate a need to do so (as well as good character). New York’s similar, century-old law will soon be subject to Supreme Court review under New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett. Many expect the conservative majority to take a Second Amendment absolutist view and throw need, “proper
cause” or whatever standard to the wind.
The tragedy of this is that a majority of Americans favor gun safety restrictions like, for example, universal background checks or “red flag” laws that separate guns from serial abusers and those judged by a court to be a high risk to themselves or others. When people are asked, flat out, if they want stricter guns laws, most inevitably respond yes, albeit in a politically polarized manner, with Democrats far more likely to favor, while Republicans more often oppose. Because of this divide, Congress is unlikely to take action to limit firearm ownership, even popular background checks, because of the Senate filibuster rule. And that leaves the nation vulnerable to Supreme Court whim.
The pandemic will eventually end. The police accountability movement is already bearing fruit and crime fighting strategies, including drug decriminalization, are going to have a positive impact, too. Yet all these guns whether they are in the hands of first-time buyers from Towson with self-defense on their minds or long-time hunters in Western Maryland or just city residents who enjoy target practice, are not going away, particularly if the permitting process is relaxed. The U.S. has an estimated 393 million guns in civilian hands, by far the highest ratio (with guns outnumbering people) in the world. This is a legacy that fuels one of the highest shooting death rates on the planet (only a handful of violence-plagued, politically unstable South American countries rank higher) and these continued mass shootings. All those firearms are destined to be inherited, used and misused, by generations to come as these trends continue without, it appears, any real hope of intervention from a U.S. Senate held hostage by partisan politics.