March 2013: There are good bills before the State of Maryland regarding medical marijuana right now. Please contact your delegates, state senators, and the governor, and tell them to support these bills:

• HB302 Medical marijuana safe access
• HB180 Medical marijuana caregiver protections
• HB1453 Regulate marijuana like alcohol (if you believe that marijuana shoiuld be regulated in a civilized way)

There are a lot of supportive representatives, but they will only favor if they get support from their voters. Let them know that the people support these bills. And let everyone in the community know so that they can contact their representatives also.

First you have to identify a bill you want to be involved with. I am into education so I review education bills to see which ones I might want to testify on. Also I ask the legislators to keep me advised on any bills that they want someone to testify on. It may be a tax bill or some sort of regulation that reduces your liberty and freedom. The next step is to sign up to testify. The day that a bill is coming before the committee they put out a clipboard with different bills on each board. You have to either sign up by 1:20 PM or have a legislator sign up for you. In any event your name has to be on the list. Next you go to the committee room and set. They often list the order of bills on a screen outside the committee room but they don't always follow this schedule. Often it can be 5 or 6 PM before your bill is called. You have a limited time to testify so you want to know what you want to say. You may be asked questions by the delegates or senators to clarify a particular issue. It is a good idea to have written testimony which you can give copies to the committee clerk and the clerk will see that each committee member gets a copy. You can also send a copy to the press. It is sometimes a good idea to send a copy to a particular legislator even if they are not on the committee but you know that has an interest. It is a good idea to show up early and visit some of the legislators in your district. Get to know them and their aides. Get on their e-mail list so that you get reports from time to time. Or you can ask for reports on a particular issue if you want. If anyone wants to meet me and have me show them around I am willing to do this. There is a lot of waiting sometimes so you need patience. Do not argue with a legislator. If a legislator gets aggressive with you just say delegate or senator I understand what you are saying but as I understand it this is and repeat your position. Sometimes, if you are not sure, you can say I am fairly sure of the facts as stated but I will double check and if I find I have erred I will surely send you the correct information. If you would like more information, contact .

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The Baltimore Campaign For Liberty is looking for volunteers to help kill the speed camera legislation coming up for a vote before the County Council Monday, 7 February 2011, by distributing literature throughout Baltimore County. From Baltimore C4L Coordinator: Bill 1-11 has been proposed in the Baltimore County Council to expand the deployment of speed cameras throughout Baltimore County. The Baltimore Campaign for Liberty has been working hard to fight this issue. We have been able to roll the vote of David Marks and we now have two votes against the bill. We have a very real opportunity to kill this bill. We are organizing in the districts of Cathy Bevins and Vicki Almond. We are looking for more people to help us out. We can supply you with all the literature and information you need. We need people to volunteer to drop literature or go door to door to solicit opposition to the bill.

Jennie Forehand has a bill in the Maryland senate to ask Congress to repeal the Federal Real ID Act and have Maryland reject its implementation at 1:00 pm February 15, 2007. Please see if you can get a good turn out. Help push back big brother! (from Peter James)

H.R. 3037 -- sponsored by Ron Paul -- is a bill legalizing industrial hemp. Contact Congress asking for support. (from Buzz Tavik)

29 August 2005: The following is from: Richard C. Randall:

- Stop The Government From Seizing Private Property!
- PAWS bill would license and inspect private homes of breeders!

Information at www.ymlp.com/pubarchive.php?liberty

16 August 2005: The following is from: Richard C. Randall, LegislativeDirector@lpcolorado.org, Libertarian Party of Colorado Tel: (720) 348-6927

Liberty Alert: Anti-gun Senators Sabotage S. 397, but not H.R. 800!

Anti-gun Senators Sabotage S. 397, but not H.R. 800! On July 29, the U.S. Senate passed legislation (S. 397) protecting the gun industry from frivolous lawsuits by a vote of 65-31. It should have been a joyous occasion for the entire gun community. But just before the vote, anti-run Senators included two amendments.

The first amendment -- offered by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) -- requires gun dealers to include a "lock-up-your-safety" device (trigger lock) with every handgun sold. In addition to imposing a "gun tax" on every handgun buyer, this amendment paves the way for future legislation mandating that gun owners use those trigger locks.

Those who think it's no big deal will tell you that even though the provision requires gun dealers to include the sale of a "lock-up-your-safety" device with every handgun sold, there are no penalties for the gun owner if he or she does not use the trigger lock. Right. NOT YET.

Remember seat belts? First they had to be installed in every new car sold. Then, it became mandatory that you wear them. You can almost hear the debate in the next Congress: "It does no good to provide trigger locking devices if gun owners aren't required to use them. We need to punish any gun owner who fails to lock up his or her handgun!"

Remember also that some us don't like a "tax" on the price of our next gun, which we have to pay to get a piece of equipment we know can endanger our lives should we install it.

The second provision -- offered by Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) -- amended the armor-piercing bullet provisions of federal law. At its core, the Craig language did two things: - It gave impetus to adopting a "penetration standard" for armor piercing bullets by commissioning a Justice Department study of the issue. If a "penetration standard" were adopted, a gun-adverse administration could probably use it to ban virtually all ammunition. - It established a fifteen year MANDATORY MINIMUM PRISON SENTENCE for anyone who carries a single armor piercing bullet during the commission of a "crime of violence" -- or who "possesses" such a bullet "in furtherance of... such crime..."

It is significant that "crime of violence" is defined in 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(3) to mean a felony that (1) involves the actual, attempted, or threatened use of force against person or property, or (2) involves a "substantial risk" of force against person or property.

Hence, if a concealed carry permit holder opens his coat to display a firearm in order to thwart an assault -- and such an action is prohibited by a state's anti-self defense law and therefore constitutes a felony of "criminal threatening" -- then the court must sentence the concealed carry permit holder to a fifteen year mandatory minimum sentence if he is carrying an "armor piercing bullet." The judge has no discretion.

The bill now moves to the House. Some pro-gun spokesmen have been promising that the amendments can be stripped out in a conference committee. But this is a dangerous strategy which frequently does NOT work -- such as when we got stuck with the Feinstein semi-auto ban in 1993-94 and the Incumbent Protection Act in 2002.

Now Colorado Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R) is working to get these anti-gun provisions stripped out of the bill. She will be sending a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay, asking them to NOT approve the Senate bill.

Rather, the Musgrave letter asks these two leaders to push the House bill, H.R. 800, which provides lawsuit immunity for gun makers and sellers, without endangering average gun owners. H.R. 800 has been well received in the House, as it currently has a whopping 257 cosponsors!

Rep. Musgrave needs additional cosignatories before she sends her letter. And this is where we need your help.

ACTION: Please ask your Representative to sign onto the Musgrave letter opposing the anti-gun amendments in S. 397. She needs as many Congressional signatures as possible to show the House leadership that there is a groundswell of support for pushing the House bill, H.R. 800, rather than just taking the Senate version at face value.

You can send your Representative a pre-written e-mail message from the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at: http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm

Also, you can read the full text of this Bill and check on it's status at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.0800:

22 July 2005: The following is from: Richard C. Randall, LegislativeDirector@lpcolorado.org, Libertarian Party of Colorado Tel: (720) 348-6927

CAFTA S. 1307, the "Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act" (CAFTA) isn't so much about free trade as it is global managed trade...like NAFTA. CAFTA would build on the three-nation North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by expanding the trade bloc to include Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. But why is this treaty bad?

Consider: CAFTA article 10.16.3 places the United States under the jurisdiction of international tribunals supervised by the United Nations.

Consider: CAFTA article 10.5.2(a) states that these international tribunals must use "customary international law" as established by the "principle legal systems of the world" when deciding cases.

And then there's the unconstitutional granting of "fast track" authority to the president. Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to regulate international trade. Just read what Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) has to say about this treaty at: http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul254.html

This is the decisive moment when we can stop CAFTA and preserve our national sovereignty! Please contact your U.S. Representative and urge them to vote NO on CAFTA.

To contact your Congressional Representative by phone, call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or 1-800-839-5276. Or you can e-mail your Representative by visiting http://www.house.gov/

Opposed by more than 160 organizations (for many different reasons), there are several web sites providing pre-written messages urging our Congressional Representatives to oppose CAFTA. Here is one example: http://www.healthactioncenter.org/action/index.asp?step=2&;item=27116

The FAIR Act is UNFAIR! S.852, the "Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act" (FAIR Act), is a bill that will establish a trust fund for victims with asbestos-related diseases like asbestosis and mesothelioma. But the bill is anything but fair! This proposed legislation is the latest of an ongoing effort to kick asbestos victims out of the courts and into a new federal bureaucracy that would immediately limit corporate accountability and liability while delaying or preventing fair compensation for victims.

The Committee to Protect Mesothelioma Victims (CPMV), Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), The White Lung Association (WLA), AFL-CIO, 9/11 Environmental Action, New York Committee Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) and the Environmental Information Association (EIA) laid out their points of contention on Capitol Hill following a meeting with Senate Judiciary Chairman, Senator Arlen Specter. The groups also signed a strongly-worded letter to Sen. Specter. The Libertarian Party supports victims rights to fair compensation for injuries and damages. I urge you to support these groups representing the victims of asbestos-related diseases by urging our Senators to oppose this bill.

For more information visit: http://www.asbestostruth.org/main/faq.html To sign a pre-written letter/e-mail to your senator, visit: http://capwiz.com/asbestostruth/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=71849To

HR 1528 - The "Snitch" Bill H.R. 1528, "Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2005", proposes new laws requiring YOU to provide full assistance in investigating, apprehending, and prosecuting drug law offenders who are personally known to you. This could involve working undercover and wearing a wire to entrap and convict friends, family members, co-workers, and neighbors!

Families of legal medical marijuana patients (medical marijuana is legal in 10 states), for example, would be required to report their family member to the D.E.A. within 24 hours of using the Federally controlled, illegal substance or risk prosecution with a prison sentence between 2 and 10 years! Drug Warriors have already passed H.R. 1528 through one committee, and appear likely to pass through another and come to the floor for a vote.

Please contact your United States Congressional Representative and ask them to oppose H.R. 1528. You can send your Congressional Representative a pre-written e-mail message from the Downsize DC Legislative Action Center at : http://action.downsizedc.org/background.php?cid=28

Extreme Penalties For Some Who Use Guns In Self-Defense H.R. 1279 and its counterpart, S. 155, are supposedly "anti-gang" measures. But they are so poorly drafted that they could lead to lifetime prison sentences for fathers who protect their families from muggers.

Under H.R. 1279, a family which drives within 1,000 feet of a school (which is almost unavoidable) with a gun in the glove compartment could be a criminal gang if the father or mother brandished the gun to scare off a mugger. All members of the family could be subject to a MANDATORY MINIMUM sentence of ten years in prison -- and up to life imprisonment, at the discretion of the court.

Please contact your United States senators and ask them to oppose anti-gun so-called "gang" legislation. You can send your Senators a pre-written e-mail message from the "Gun Owners Legislative Action Center" at: http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm

S.3 Undermines Health Rights and Medical Privacy It is important that you oppose and defeat those provisions of S. 3 which undermine state government's rights to inform and protect their citizens, violate the rights of vaccine injured children and invade health privacy.

Senate Bill 3 uses emotionally charged homeland security language to undermine both the state's rights and your health rights and medical privacy while giving pharmaceutical companies comprehensive liability protection and millions in government grants and tax credits. The bill, entitled "Protecting America in the War on Terror Act of 2005," contains many troubling provisions. If passed it would:

1) nullify any state laws related to the regulation of drugs and vaccines; thereby overturning existing laws banning mercury in vaccines and prohibiting any future state laws regulating drugs. 2) bar states from warning their citizens about drug or vaccine safety issues if that warning is different than any federal information. 3) gift drug and vaccine makers with a financial windfall through millions of dollars of grants and tax credits, fast-tracking vaccine approval, extension of patents and comprehensive liability protection. 4) invade health privacy by establishing a national electronic surveillance program to collect and analyze a wide-range of your health data, including all data relating to "diseases, including vital records, registries, chronic diseases and maternal and child health data"

Please contact your Senators (http://www.senate.gov/) and urge them to vote NO on S.3

UN Second Amendment Protection Act of 2005 Senator David Vitter (R-LA) is getting ready to introduce a bill that would block the United Nations from implementing gun control measures affecting U.S. citizens. Entitled the "UN Second Amendment Protection Act of 2005," the bill does still not have a number, as Sen. Vitter is trying to get original cosponsors to join him.

Gun owners across America are increasingly victorious in legislative and elective battles at the local, state and national levels. Nevertheless, anti-gun internationalists, long burrowed in the UN headquarters, are planning, with some success, massive international gun control measures.

This entire week, the UN is holding the second biennial meeting of States to consider the implementation of the Program of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. Though couched in the flowery rhetoric of protecting victims of violence, the goal of the conference is nothing short of global gun control.

Sen. Vitter has meticulously documented and highlighted for his senate colleagues some of the most egregious proposals, including: * A comprehensive program for worldwide gun control and a total ban on certain types of firearms; * The establishment of an international tracking certificate which would be used to ensure UN monitoring control over the export, import, transit, stocking, and storage of legal small arms and light weapons; * Worldwide record keeping for an indefinite amount of time on the manufacture, holding and transfer of small arms and light weapons; * National registries and tracking lists of all legal firearms.

The U.N. has no business interfering with our Second Amendment rights guaranteed by our Founding Fathers," Sen. Vitter said.

Sen. Vitter's bill will prohibit any U.S. funding to the UN unless the President certifies that the world body "has not taken action to restrict, attempt to restrict or otherwise adversely infringe upon the rights of individuals in the United States to possess a firearm or ammunition."

ACTION: Please contact your two senators and urge them to cosponsor the Vitter bill. You can visit the Gun Owners Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm to send your Senators a pre-written e-mail message.

Libertarian Party members and leaders:

As you may know, the Libertarian Party is involved in a coalition striving to end the confiscatory death tax. The death tax has long been recognized as a significant threat to family-owned businesses and farms.

The U.S. House of Representatives has already approved legislation (H.R. 8) that would completely eliminate the death tax beginning in 2011. This bill is now on its way to the U.S. Senate.

Democrat and Republican leaders in the Senate hope to reach a compromise that will help H.R. 8 get through the Senate this summer. But this compromise could jeopardize the value of the bill, undermining its purpose.

We support passage of the bill in its unaltered form, and we don't think it is necessary to compromise the language in order to get it approved.

If a few more Democratic senators can be persuaded to vote for the repeal of the death tax, this tax can be killed.

The national Libertarian Party needs your assistance. If we're going to help eliminate the death tax, each Libertarian Party member needs to call or write his or her U.S. senator and ask that H.R. 8 be approved WITHOUT compromise.

Everyone's participation is needed, but it is absolutely essential in certain states (see a list below) whose senators have proven willing to vote on anti-tax measures.

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS ABOUT THIS ISSUE

April 7, 2005. Minimum wage rise is OK'd by Md. Senate; Assistance for low-income workers is seen as blow for business interests; Governor is hinting that he will opt for a veto, write David Nitkin and Jamie Smith Hopkins in the Baltimore Sun. "Jeff Levin, general manager at Fields of Pikesville, a business that includes a restaurant, greeting cards and cosmetics, said the governor has to go directly to citizens to convince them that the bills put Maryland at a disadvantage and could put people out of work.'We in the private sector are looking for a governor, for our governor, to do that, and so far we are disappointed," he said. 'Political leadership, a la Ronald Reagan, is what is required. And he's not doing it.'" (courtesy Richard Falknor and Maryland Taxpayers Association, Inc.)

Delegate Neil Quinter (D) District 14 -- neil_quinter@house.state.md.us phone 410-841-3246. Singlehandedly, Quinter's attempt to amend the Ballistic Fingerprinting repeal bill (HB 179) caused the committee to shut down votes on all the gun bills. No one wanted to waste time on an AWB that was going nowhere and amending it to any other bill was a poison pill that would kill it. With 12 cosponsors of the AWB (a majority) on the Judiciary committee Quinter would have been successful in amending any bill with his AWB... and he made it clear he would try to amend it to ANY bill that could get out of committee. By acting this way Quinter shut down any good gun bill from getting out. Let him know that his actions are irresponsible and unacceptable. Tell him that his job is to advance good legislation and stop bad legislation, but not to shut down the whole system because of some misguided crusade to get the AWB onto the floor when (a) it won't pass and will just waste everyone's time and (b) even if it did pass it wouldn't reduce crime even a little bit - as shown by the recent report by the National Academy of Sciences .... and the effects seen before, during and after the national AWB. Please send him an email *and* call his office. Be polite, and be clear. It is not time to threaten to get him out of office - the election will not be until *after* the legislative session next year. However, with enough pressure now he may back off next year and not muck up the whole works. I suppose if there are miracles and we hit him with enough calls and emails in the next few days he might signal that he's backing off and then Vallario might be able to allow a vote on our good gun bills - HB 179 and HB 1211. We've got nothing to lose now. Please let him hear from you ASAP. Quinter has made himself our biggest obstacle this year, and unless we straighten him out now he'll be our biggest obstacle next year as well.

(3-30-2005) In an era when people fret about illegal gun traffic and straw purchases, what's the solution championed by Baltimore County Executive James Smith? Kick cops out of the gun shops! Click for more information. (courtesy Tripwire Newsletter)

Now is the time for intense activity to push these important paper ballot bills. THREE sets of bills are under consideration but ONLY ONE is the real deal: The True Paper Trail Bills House Bill 107 & Senate Bill 9 require the solution advocated by independent computer experts to mend our troubled voting system: a voter-verified paper ballot audit trail with a 2% random audit. Contact: .

March 22, 2005: Senate Bill 818 proposes to place a "shall return" obligation on police for property they take - including guns. Who'd have thought it would take some separate law to make police give back property they seize in the course of an investigation, even if just a traffic stop? But presently, citizens whose property is taken often don't get it back. Some localities follow a standing policy to simply take any guns police encounter, then make you get a lawyer and spend money trying to retrieve your property even if you have never been charged with a crime. Taxpayers foot the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars per case as localities fight in court to keep guns too. That's wrong. SB 818 says simply that police should return property to rightful owners. Click for more information. Full text of the bill is here. (courtesy Tripwire Newsletter)

March 17, 2005: There is a bill in the General Assembly right now that would put a 1% surcharge on any Marylander making in excess of $55,900/year who chooses not to purchase health insurance. So far it has not received any opposition and definitely needs to. I encourage you to call your delegates and ask them to oppose this bill.

This is mandatory insurance coverage by other means.

Click for Baltimore Sun article -- Click for Bill information