Maryland House Democrats introduced a controversial gun safety bill requiring gun owners to forfeit their ability to wear or carry without firearm liability insurance.

Introduced by Del. Terri Hill, D-Howard County, the legislation would prohibit the “wear or carry” of a gun anywhere in the state unless the individual has obtained a liability insurance policy of at least $300,000.

"A person may not wear or carry a firearm unless the person has obtained and it covered by liability insurance issued by an insurer authorized to do business in the State under the Insurance Article to cover claims for property damage, bodily injury, or death arising from an accident resulting from the person’s use or storage of a firearm or up to $300,000 for damages arising from the same incident, in addition to interest and costs,” the proposed Maryland legislation reads.

  • bluewing@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    Ahhh, the old “let’s make something a right that only the rich can afford.” For all the “eat the rich” rhetoric here, there seems to be a lot of desire to increase the class divide even more by limiting rights to how much money you have.

    It’s already very difficult to nearly impossible to obtain a purchase and carry permit in the state since Maryland is “May issue” state and NOT a “Shall issue” state. This means you can be denied a permit at the whim of local law enforcement unless you have an “in” with whoever is in charge. This is purely performative theater to buy votes.

    And the two groups that really should have liability insurance - drug gangs and law enforcement - will be completely unaffected by this requirement.

    • Zuberi 👀@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 months ago

      Just don’t bring your gun to your favorite walmart?..

      You don’t have to bring the fucking thing around with you everywhere

    • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      It’s definitely odd seeing the crowd cheering for regulatory capture, that’s certain. Doubly infuriating because this kind of legislation will not solve problems, it’s virtue signaling to anti-gun donors and voters, that just pisses off everyone who has to live with it. How does insurance solve harm? It doesn’t, and I’d argue this is legally untested enough that a carrier can likely find ways to get out from paying.

      There’s much better areas to start unraveling this issue, but they’re hard and don’t make quick headlines for clout:

      • Expand the denied persons categories, including domestic violence, including cops
      • Actually enforce sentencing for gun charges instead of pleading out, so ‘repeat offender’ laws actually work as designed
      • Focus funding and diversion efforts at gang members who commit violence in communities, instead of broad, cosmetic centric bans
      • Stop fetishizing guns as ‘manly’ or ‘powerful’ instead of just the deadly tools they are. Society shares blame here, but gun marketing absolutely took that an RAN with it
      • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Focus funding and diversion efforts at gang members who commit violence in communities…

        There it is lmao. Like gangs are the problem.

        • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          This isn’t the “racist found, we can dismiss everything said fellas” dog whistle you think it is.

          Targeted programs that focus on individuals do exist, and are working. A small number of individuals commit an outsize percentage of the gun violence, so focusing on those people with non-policing efforts can have a large effect.

        • PoliticalAgitator@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          “It’s the black peoples fault”.

          Half the American women murdered in their last decade were killed by their partner, but there’s no “funding and diversion efforts” for white guys who can’t control their emotions.

    • prayer@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      MD is Shall Issue now, thanks to Bruen. Still very hard to obtain a permit, as you require 16 hours of instruction, passing a live-fire exam, and paying about $200 in fees (on top of the $400 class).

        • prayer@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Well when all the classes are only offered during the week (or charge more for weekend classes), taking two days off work and spending a whole paycheck just on a permit is rather difficult.

      • PoliticalAgitator@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Oh damn you have to show basic competence with a deadly weapon before you’re allowed to take it home and cuddle it? What an authoritarian hellscape.

    • SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It’s already very difficult to nearly impossible to obtain a purchase and carry permit in the state since Maryland is “May issue” state and NOT a “Shall issue” state.

      You almost make it sound like this is a bad thing?

    • PoliticalAgitator@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      If “performative theatre” upsets you, then the pro-gun side is not for you.

      They crow about “keeping their family safe” but droves of children are blowing their brains out with their dads guns or dying screaming on their classroom floor.

      They promise all the gun violence will be worth it because they’ll keep us safe from tyranny but they enthusiastically vote for authoritarian, far-right candidates running on a platform of “we will take away the rights of women and minorities”.

      They promise they’re “responsible gun owners”, then staunchly oppose any measure that makes that responsibility a requirement, not a completely voluntary pinkie promise.