His legislation extends jail time from three to five years for anyone convicted of illegal handgun possession regardless of age, and the proposal is gaining bipartisan lawmakers' support In Annapolis.
Residents want to support legislation that makes their communities safer, while others will mount opposition based on their own agendas. Illegal possession of a firearm is a gravely serious offense and should be treated as such, and this bill allows us to do that. As a public servant elected by the people of Baltimore, I am compelled to stand on the side of the community, which is why I strongly support HB481/SB889.
"This repeat offender was wreaking havoc in our community with no regard for the law," Deputy State's Attorney Thomas M. Donnelly said in a news release. "I applaud ASA Weinberg for these skillful prosecutions that have resulted in the defendant facing steep and necessary penalties for his reckless actions. It is quite evident he should not be free to do this in our communities, and this conviction will ensure that he is no longer a threat to our city.”
Many of them gathered Tuesday in Washington D.C. to discuss that and 11 News spoke with U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume about those talks and next steps to come. Mfume said they had a great discussion in Washington, and there was a realization among everyone there that moving back to the model of prosecuting low-level crimes was the right thing to do.
“When it comes to public safety, progress can and should be measured. The Public Safety Accountability Dashboard provides a look at the numbers that inform our data-driven efforts in ways that directly address Baltimore’s latest public safety trends,” Scott said.
Police then responded a short time later to two walk-in shooting victims at a nearby hospital, where they found a 16-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man shot. Both were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Charging documents allege Davis drove his Lamborghini through a red light at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Washington Boulevards, striking a Toyota.
The House Judiciary Committee took testimony from Bates, and several other people in support of the plan that would raise the maximum penalty from three years to five years for people convicted of illegal gun possession, or transport, across the board.
The Maryland U.S. attorney’s office is thinly structured and details much of its limited resources to help the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office and the Baltimore Police Department. This needs to slow considerably, and Bates, if given the monetary resources by the city, should be able to quickly attract skilled and seasoned professionals and retain existing staff, to prosecute the criminal docket and staff programs designed to intervene before violence occurs. This can all happen without extensive help from the U.S. attorney’s office. We do not expect that all help from that office will be withdrawn, and we still expect there will be federal prosecutions for 922(g) violations, but it is critical to the efficient functioning of the U.S. attorney’s office, and the independence of the city state’s attorney’s office, that Bates be given the resources he says he needs and be allowed to create his office in the image for which the taxpayers of this city elected him.
