The SUN
April 28, 1995
p 1B
                Glendening appoints gun panel
             Members' views lean toward controls
By John W. Frece
S Staff Writer
  
  Saying he wants to "reduce the obscene level of gun
violence" in Maryland, Gov. Parris N. Glendening named
yesterday a 17-member commission to develop a plan to do
that.
  Moving to make good on a key campaign promise, Mr.
Glendening names as co-chairman of the commission Vincent
DeMarco, a paid lobbyist for Handgun Control Inc. and former
head of Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse (MAHA), the
state's largest gun control advocacy group.
  He then stacked the panelÄÄthe Governor's Commission on Gun
ViolenceÄÄwith members who would be likely to recommend
stronger gun control laws, including clergymen, the mother
of a gunshot victim, a pediatrician, a campus security
chief, a teacher, a prosecutor, and the head of the state
police union.
  "that's about what I would expect from a governor like
Glendening," groused gun rights activist and lobbyist Bob
McMurray. "A totally one-sided commission with no
representatives from the shooting sports groups, no
[National Rifle Association] representation, no [Maryland
Ste Rifle and Pistol Association] membership, no one from
the [firearms] dealers' association."
  "It is obviously a stacked deck," said Sanford Abrams,
vice president of the Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers
Association. "They might as well not meet. We know exactly
what they want to do."
  In addition to recommending by Nov. 1 new measures to
control gun violence, the commission will look at gun
trafficking and review existing laws to see which ones work,
Mr. Glendening said.
  Gun control had been a cornerstone of Mr. Glendening's
campaign for governor, but a month after his election he
stunned supporters by announcing that he would not rush for
such measures until 1996.
  Yesterday, standing against the backdrop of a huge
American flag outside state police headquarters in
Pikesville, the governor summoned up images of the recent
bombing in Oklahoma City, the shooting death this week of
Prince George's County Police Officer John J. Novabilski,
the shooting of infants and senior citizens caught in the
cross-fire of gun battles, and the murder five years ago of
state police Cpl. Theodore D. Wolf.
  Mr. Glendening briefly interrupted his news conference to
present Trooper Wolf's badge to his widow, Ginny, as a
gesture to honor and respect to all victims of gun violence.
  Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., a Prince
George's County Democrat, said that Maryland already has
some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation. He said
that he is not sure the legislature has any appetite to go
farther.
  Mr. Miller added that the commission membership did not
appear to reflect the views of more conservative regions of
the state. "It would appear the commission is slanted toward
people who are anti-gun in the extreme, and therefore I
don't know if their findings are going to be perceived as
totally objective by the Maryland General Assembly," he
said.
  The governor defended the appointees as citizens "who
understand the seriousness of gun violence in our society."
He also repeated his support for a comprehensive gun control
program pushed by MAHA that would include licensing of all
handgun owners, limits on gun sales, and restrictions on the
capacity of gun magazines.
  "I support that package, but this commission has an open
end to look at a range of solutions and different
proposals," Mr. Glendening said. "I'm not going to comment
during the work of the commission on specific alternatives
or proposals, because that prejudges their decision and
obviously almost defines the parameters for them."
  But Mr. DeMarco said the governor's support of MAHA's
program "will certainly be a factor in our deliberations."
  Mr. McMurray, who chairs the Maryland Committee Against
the Gun Ban, said he would be surprised if the commission
recommended anything less than the MAHA proposal.
  Named with Mr. DeMarco as co-chairs of the commission were
Marna McClendon, the Howard County state's attorney; and
Daryl Jones, a former Prince George's County policeman and
now president of the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police.
  Also appointed were Rabbi Gary Fink of Oseh Shalom
Sagogue in Montgomery County; the Rev. John Wright of the
First Baptist Church of Guilford, president of the Statewide
Baptist Ministers Conference; Sheriff Ray Kight of
Montgomery County; Chief John Collins, chief of police for
the University of Maryland Baltimore campus; Dr. Modena
Wilson, a pediatrician at John Hopkins University; Barbara
Willis, the Anne Arundel County mother of Charles H. Willis,
who was shot to death after an argument over a ballpoint
pen.
  Others included Ray Schoenke, a former Washington Redskin
who owns a Montgomery County insurance agency and a major
Eastern Shore duck hunting farm; Jack Patterson, a Frederick
County teacher; and Tracy Brown from the criminal justice
office of the mayor of Baltimore.
  Five other members are yet to be named, including
designees from the House of Delegates and state Senate, the
nursing community, a charitable organization, and the
children and youth advocacy community.
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