AMGOA Staff
Pennsylvania


Posts: 1,427

In a sweep of anticipated vetoes, Gov. Larry Hogan on Thursday, May 7, axed a controversial bill that sought to ban the sharing and secondary private sale of hunting rifles and shotguns.

After drawing heated debate among legislators and citizens this legislative session, House bill 4 passed through both chambers of Maryland's General Assembly in a vote split along party lines in early March.

If the bill had been signed into law, it would have become illegal for a gun owner to sell, rent, gift or loan their rifle or shotgun to someone else without the potential new owner undergoing a background check and paying a licenser to facilitate the firearm transfer.

Under the vetoed law, an illegal long gun transfer would have carried a penalty of up to a five-year jail sentence and/or $10,000 in fines.

As lawmakers awaited Hogan's legislative action on hundreds of bills passed this session, pro-and anti-gun rights legislators wrote letters to the governor urging him to act in their favor on HB4.

Against the backdrop of a deadly pandemic, lawmakers on either side of the argument pointed to the extreme circumstances to make their case for firearms restrictions.

https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/state/hogan-vetoes-bill-seeking-tighter-long-guns-restrictions/article_d6400b6b-7d09-5f62-9dab-aaa21f562e58.html