Bates-backed tougher gun penalties become law

Gov. Wes Moore signed into law Tuesday a group of gun control bills that included increased penalties for illegal gun possession, a policy that was advocated by Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates over the objection of criminal justice reform advocates.

The policy, which was folded into a larger piece of legislation regulating guns, increases the maximum penalty for illegal handgun possession from three years to five years in prison.

Bates pushed for the bill throughout the legislative session, his first as Baltimore’s top prosecutor. He told lawmakers the proposal would raise the stakes for people who illegally carry guns by creating the threat of more serious prison time.

“I’m very happy,” Bates said after Moore signed the legislation. “I think this is a step in the right direction. … This isn’t going to be the end-all be-all, but it allows us to fight crime (by increasing the consequences).”

Justice reform advocates, however, opposed the bill and said longer prison sentences will not improve public safety.

“This is going to cause harm,” said Heather Warnken, the executive director of the University of Baltimore School of Law’s Center for Criminal Justice Reform. “This is going to undermine public safety, and this is going to only exacerbate racial disparities in a state that already has the worst rates of over-incarceration of Black men and youth.”

Moore did not specifically address the penalty piece of the legislation at Tuesday’s bill signing ceremony, but said that Maryland will take an “all of the above” approach to public safety and reducing gun violence.

“We have to attack the issue of crime from every angle,” Moore said.

The enhanced penalties were originally introduced in their own separate bill.

Bates argued the legislation would eliminate a disparity: Under existing law, the maximum possible penalty for illegal handgun possession was five years if the offender is 18 to 20 years old, but only three years for older offenders.

The solo legislation appeared unlikely to pass after it failed to make it out of House or Senate committees by “crossover,” the deadline for the legislative chambers to send bills to one another. It reappeared in the form of an amendment to larger gun legislation much later in the session.

Del. Luke Clippinger, a Baltimore Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said the enhanced penalties fit into the broader piece of legislation, HB824, that ultimately passed.

“There was a larger conversation that was looking at all things related to our gun registration system and some of the penalties that we impose on people for violating those laws,” Clippinger said. “This is one of those penalties. It goes directly to the issue of people who do not have a wear-and-carry permit and the penalties for those people who violate that part of the law. ”

Bates pushed for the increased penalties because, he said, gun offenders did not see the three-year maximum penalty as enough of a deterrent. Under the Justice Reinvestment Act of 2016, some people who are convicted of misdemeanors can be released after completing 25% of their sentence.

“Five years is enough time that we can get their attention and hold them accountable for their actions,” Bates said in written testimony supporting his bill. “Now they are rethinking whether or not they want to chance carrying that illegal weapon, possibly getting caught and being sent to DOC.”

The battle over the legislation highlighted a major area of disagreement between Bates and reformers, who say that longer prison sentences harm defendants and their families and cause recidivism.

Senator Jill P. Carter, a Baltimore Democrat, led a last-minute effort to amend the bill to allow people convicted under the legislation to apply for probation before judgment if they completed their sentence and took a firearms training course. The amendment passed on the Senate floor at first, but failed following a motion for reconsideration.

Carter said people who are stained with a gun conviction will struggle to get education, housing and jobs, leaving them with few choices.

“To me it’s like we are steering people into a life of criminal activity and then complaining that our streets aren’t safe,” she said.