The most recent St. Mary’s County Republican Central Committee Youth Political Roundtable featured a hot topic: gun control. The latest in a series of topical discussions featured a mix in the audience of young people and adults and also featured presentations from a recent Leonardtown High School graduate and an expert on gun safety who is also a candidate for county commissioner. The roundtable took place at the Leonardtown Library.

Tad Greer, son of Republican central Committee Vice Chair Julie Burk-Greer, gave a critical Power Point presentation giving the history of gun control attempts over time. He will be attending Salisbury State University. And John O’Connor, executive director of the Law Enforcement Institute of Maryland in Charlotte Hall and a Republican candidate for the 3rd district county coimmissioner seat, gave an insider’s perspective on the new Maryland law and the flaws he perceived in it.

Greer’s presentation quoted the 2nd Amendment: “A well-regulated militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” Greer said the purpose of the amendment is “so the people can protect themselves from criminals, but more importantly from government tyranny.”

Greer gave some recent instances suggesting government tyranny is afoot. They include the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Justice and National Security Agency (NSA) scandals. He noted that the 1.6 million Department of Homeland Security annually purchases 1.6 billion rounds of ammo, 15,000 fully automatic rifles and one billion of the more expensive rubber bullets.

The student said that the idea of gun control has been around for centuries. “Most of the time it has been   a way for the government to control the masses,” he said. He got a reaction from the audience when he quoted Adolph Hitter is 1935 as saying, “This year will go down in history. For the first time a civilized nation has full gun control. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient and the world will follow our lead into the future.”

He listed what he feels our flaws in various types of gun control legislation”

·        Background checks – If a criminal knows that his record will keep him from getting a gun then he won’t even try to get one legally.

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