Gun Bill Talk Continues to Inflame

The State House complex was all but shut down yesterday when a robocall campaign turned out more than 1,000 gun rights advocates, but only some of them got to speak at a public hearing. WYPR’s Karen Hosler reports.

Karen Hosler: Senate Republican Leader E. J. Pipkin complained today that hundreds of opponents were turned away from a hearing on Governor Martin O’Malley’s gun control proposals because the building was filled to capacity.

State Senator E.J. Pipkin: I think we, we disenfranchised and alienated a lot of people unnecessarily and we need to figure out a way to accommodate them.

Hosler: Brian Frosh, chairman of a Senate committee that spent nine hours listening to comments on the gun bills, said time as well as space ran out.

State Senator Brian Frosh: Neither our system nor any other is designed to accommodate hundreds or thousands of people who want to be heard on an issue.

Hosler: And sometimes maybe it’s good enough for a large crowd of opponents just to be seen. I’m Karen Hosler, reporting in Annapolis, for 88.1 WYPR