On The Ballot: Guns and AIDS

MARYLAND

The N.R.A.Targets a Tough Law

Gun-control advocates were ecstatic last spring when the Maryland legislature passed one of the country’s toughest bills limiting the manufacture and sale of cheap handguns. But even as Governor William Schaefer signed the new bill into law, the gun lobby was collecting the 33,000 signatures necessary to put it to a referendum next Tuesday. The result is the most expensive election campaign in Maryland history, a fight that pits the National Rifle Association against many of Maryland’s leading politicians.

Inspired by the increase in drug-related violence, the new law takes a unique approach to controlling “Saturday-night specials.” Starting in 1990, a nine-member board made up of representatives of pro-and anti-gun groups and law-enforcement agencies would compile a list of guns that could be sold legally. Firearms not on the list would be prohibited, and violators caught manufacturing or selling the weapons would be fined up to $10,000 a gun. While the law aims to eliminate only weapons with no “socially useful purpose,” opponents claim that it would amount to a sweeping ban.

That charge has been the core of a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign that has saturated Maryland’s airwaves since Labor Day. In addition, the law’s opponents have used some of the $4 million supplied by the N.R.A. to canvass urban neighborhoods, proclaiming that cheap handguns are often the only means poor people have to defend themselves against crime. Outspent more than 12 to 1, defenders of the gun ban have countered by emphasizing its many influential backers, including the state’s largest law-enforcement agencies. Governor Schaefer was so outraged by the N.R.A.’s campaign that he is starring in a TV spot on behalf of gun control. “The gun lobby is spending millions to mislead you about the law,” he declares, taking a swipe at the group. “Let’s win one for Maryland.”

Still, his opponents are gaining ground. Last week a Washington Post poll indicated that 49% of probable voters favored the gun law, compared with 44% who opposed it. Following the N.R.A.’s recent success defeating a gun bill in Congress, a victory in Maryland would show that the powerful lobby can blow away gun control even when it gets past a legislature.