[Baltimore Sun] FOX45: Baltimore sweep reveals 42 guns seized in just one week; lawmakers vow stiffer penalties
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According to Mayor Brandon Scott, so far this year, Baltimore Police have seized 1,647 guns, many of them stolen — with 42 guns seized over the last seven days.
Among those weapons was a Glock 9-millimeter handgun recovered from a man Monday afternoon during an investigation on Pennsylvania Avenue near North Avenue. Police arrested the suspect.
The mayor was at City Hall Wednesday with news of all the guns seized.
“This is not about whether my police officers and detectives are doing the work — they’re going to continue to do that each and every day,” Scott said.
But as police remove the guns off the streets, some Maryland lawmakers — including Republican Del. Robin Grammer of Baltimore County — believe much more can be done when someone is caught with a stolen gun.
Grammer is among those lawmakers pushing to make possession of a stolen gun a felony. Currently in Maryland, the crime is only a misdemeanor.
“They’re misdemeanor cases — there are so many of them that the prosecutor can only focus limited time, resources and efforts on the big cases, not necessarily every misdemeanor,” Grammer said. “In terms of accountability, what you’re doing is taking people who are in possession of stolen firearms and putting them right back on the streets.”
Defense attorney Kurt Nachtman weighed in with a breakdown of the current law.
“If the gun is valued at less than $1,500, in the state of Maryland, theft under $1,500 is a misdemeanor. Most firearms fall somewhere in that range under $1,500,” Nachtman said.
For the past five years, a bill in Annapolis to make the possession of a stolen gun a felony has failed to become law.
But lawmakers like Grammer are vowing to make the matter once again a top priority for Republicans in Annapolis next session.
“These are the guns that are going to commit violent crime. — we know this with the data we have,” Grammer said.
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