Democrat Adrienne Jones (District 10, Baltimore) has filed House Bill 1021 in the Maryland General Assembly — “for the purpose of prohibiting a certain licensed firearms dealer from storing a firearm on a certain premises where the licensed dealer conducts business, unless the premises is equipped with certain security features; requiring a licensed firearms dealer to lock certain firearms in a certain location outside business hours; and generally relating to security requirements for licensed firearms dealers.”
Specified in the bill are requirements that licensed firearms dealers have video surveillance, burglary alarm systems, bars or security screens on all doors and windows, and physical barriers to prevent ramming by vehicles. HB 1021 also requires dealers to lock away all firearms outside of business hours in vaults, safes or an undefined and vague “secure room.”
Anyone purchasing a firearm for trap, skeet or sporting clays; a hunting gun for turkey, grouse, quail or pheasant; a shotgun for brant, coots, doves, ducks, geese, rails, snipe or woodcock; a firearm for cowboy shooting competition; a muzzleloading rifle, shotgun or handgun; or a firearm of any sort for self-defense can expect that the price is going to rise dramatically.
This bill also places expensive requirements on licensed firearms dealers, most of whom are small businesses, during a time when they suffer from inventory shortages and staffing challenges. Dealers will close up shop, and entrepreneurs will be unable to afford to enter the industry — all of which is, perhaps, the point of such policies.
NRAILA.org