Editorial excerpt from today’s edition of the Washington Times
Maryland's gun-record scandal
True to form, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who has cynically sought to exploit the recent sniper attacks for political gain against Republican gubernatorial foe Robert Ehrlich, is already looking for someone else to blame for the latest fiasco to befall her gubernatorial campaign - the revelation that Maryland this year failed to conduct background checks on hundreds of handgun buyers, mandated under the Brady Act.
Given that Mrs. Townsend "is relentlessly pounding away at Mr. Ehrlich's congressional votes against some gun-control measures and touting her own support for "common sense"
regulations like background checks, the combination of hypocrisy and buffoonery involved in this nascent scandal are mindboggling.
The facts of the case, made public last week by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin Republican, are as follows: For approximately six months out of this year, the Maryland State Archives refused to cooperate with the FBI in carrying out criminal background checks through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The deputy state archivist sent a March 12 letter to the FBI stating that the Maryland agency would no longer cooperate with NICS until it received $45,000 necessary to fund the background checks for one year.
"Are we to believe that Maryland could not find $45,000 to assist with NCIS checks? ... Maryland's policy endangered lives and threatened public safety," Mr. Sensenbrenner said
in a statement Tuesday, requesting that the General Accounting Office investigate Maryland's handling of the funds...
The situation in Maryland, Mr. Sensenbrenner added, "is not tolerable given the amount of NCHIP and other federal criminal justice assistance provided to Maryland..."
All of this raises yet another question. Why didn't Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Casper Taylor and the legislature's oversight committees stop Maryland from refusing to cooperate with the FBI background checks? Clearly, Mrs. Townsend and much of the Democratic Party leadership have a lot of explaining to do.
For the entire editorial:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20021021-810627.htm
Maryland's gun-record scandal
True to form, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who has cynically sought to exploit the recent sniper attacks for political gain against Republican gubernatorial foe Robert Ehrlich, is already looking for someone else to blame for the latest fiasco to befall her gubernatorial campaign - the revelation that Maryland this year failed to conduct background checks on hundreds of handgun buyers, mandated under the Brady Act.
Given that Mrs. Townsend "is relentlessly pounding away at Mr. Ehrlich's congressional votes against some gun-control measures and touting her own support for "common sense"
regulations like background checks, the combination of hypocrisy and buffoonery involved in this nascent scandal are mindboggling.
The facts of the case, made public last week by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin Republican, are as follows: For approximately six months out of this year, the Maryland State Archives refused to cooperate with the FBI in carrying out criminal background checks through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The deputy state archivist sent a March 12 letter to the FBI stating that the Maryland agency would no longer cooperate with NICS until it received $45,000 necessary to fund the background checks for one year.
"Are we to believe that Maryland could not find $45,000 to assist with NCIS checks? ... Maryland's policy endangered lives and threatened public safety," Mr. Sensenbrenner said
in a statement Tuesday, requesting that the General Accounting Office investigate Maryland's handling of the funds...
The situation in Maryland, Mr. Sensenbrenner added, "is not tolerable given the amount of NCHIP and other federal criminal justice assistance provided to Maryland..."
All of this raises yet another question. Why didn't Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Casper Taylor and the legislature's oversight committees stop Maryland from refusing to cooperate with the FBI background checks? Clearly, Mrs. Townsend and much of the Democratic Party leadership have a lot of explaining to do.
For the entire editorial:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20021021-810627.htm
