Group Rallies In Annapolis To Support Bill Proposing Stricter Sentences For Violent Offenders Who Use Guns
ANNAPOLIS (WJZ) — People who are fed up with crime in Baltimore decided to leave the city Tuesday and take their concerns down to Annapolis.
Citizens visited the state capital to voice support for HB 423, the Violent Firearms Offender Act. The bill would crack down on people who use guns to commit crimes.
"Please read this bill, hear it and pass it for the future of our children and our city," one participant told the crowd.
"Our politicians at every level has failed us. We have seven straight years of 300 or more homicides in the city of Baltimore," said Douglas Hamilton, who said he is a member of a group called #SaveBaltimore. "We're losing, we're losing the battle and it's getting worse and our politicians aren't doing anything. They give it occasionally some lip service but everyone goes back to their wings, goes back to their corners."
One of the main goals of HB 423 is to make it harder for the courts to release someone who is accused of certain gun crimes before that person goes to trial.
Gov. Larry Hogan introduced the bill as a piece of emergency legislation, and now it's up to lawmakers to decide if they will pass the bill.
Thirty-six people were murdered in January in Baltimore. Hogan said that was the deadliest start to a year in five decades. Victims ranged from a mom delivering for DoorDash to a popular Little Italy restaurant manager who was gunned down after work.
The governor and Mayor Brandon Scott met to discuss crime last week.
"There will be intense focus and deeper partnership," said Scott. "We've already had the state folks working with us to help clear warrants, we're going to deepen that partnership."
At a press conference Tuesday, Scott said he was set to testify in Annapolis in support of a bill that would require the courts to notify the police department when certain suspects are released pre-trial.