Gun

“Funny that I went to school, back in the 1990s, God was still in the schools, we had guns and no cops. Now we don't have any God in schools, but we have guns and cops. What does this say to the world?” - Hagerstown “NRA spokesman Wayne LaPierre says, 'The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.' LaPierre's goal is to arm as many 'good guys' as possible at all times, because no one knows when the 'bad guy' will attack. Problem is that everyone packing a gun thinks he is the good guy, even if he is an unstable vigilante itching to pull the trigger on anyone he perceives to be the 'bad guy.' No, thank you, Mr. LaPierre, we've already experienced that situation, in the shooting of Trayvon Martin.” - Hagerstown “On Thursday, Jan. 3, the headline of The Herald-Mail was 'Same-sex couples wed in county.' Of all the national and world problems, isn't there something more 'newsworthy' than this?

Gun control could be at the forefront of the 2013 Maryland General Assembly session after the shooting in Newtown, Conn., last month, and Hagerstown resident Virginia Fennel said it should be. “They need some kind of laws or legislation to protect people,” she said. “Why do people need assault rifles?” Fennel, 68, said she believes gun control should be one of the first issues addressed  during the General Assembly session that begins Wednesday. She also talked about the importance of financial stability and regulating the expansion of gambling for the state.

The 2013 Maryland General Assembly session begins Wednesday in Annapolis. Washington County legislators said this year's session likely will be dominated by gun-related bills in the aftermath of a shooting last month at an elementary school in Connecticut that left 26 people dead, including 20 schoolchildren. Delegation members also said they will keep an eye on any possible effort to increase the gasoline tax and any other proposed tax increases. They said they will try to ensure that Washington County receives money from the disparity grant, focus on getting state funding for downtown Hagerstown projects and try and protect rural landowners when it comes to a new law on septic systems.

Krauthammer paints gun control as hopeless To the editor: On Sunday, Dec. 23, I sent a letter to the editor advocating gun control. My wife asked if the paper would give more space to a subject that had already been addressed. Evidently they would, because later I saw they ran an op-ed Dec. 23 by Charles Krauthammer well over twice as long as my piece that basically said gun control won't work. If a person is what he/she eats, a newspaper is what it publishes. My letter imagined what the slain children at Newtown might say about gun control if they could speak.

Martinsburg police shot and killed a woman Friday morning after she called police saying another woman was holding her at gunpoint. Tiffany Lee Overholser, 45, of 108 S. Georgia Ave., was taken to Martinsburg City Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, Martinsburg Police Department said in a news release. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday in Morgantown, W.Va., police said. The incident began at about 3 a.m. when police received a call through Central Dispatch about a woman at 108 S. Georgia Ave., who said another female was pointing a gun at her, police said.

As Ron Jones lodged his shotgun against his shoulder Friday night, took aim and fired, a heaviness hung over the Lower Providence Rod & Gun Club's weekly trapshoot in Montgomery County as thick as the smoke that belched from his firearm. Across the state, sportsmen like Jones have watched with trepidation as talk of tighter gun laws echoes from Washington to Harrisburg, Pa., since 20 children and six adults were killed in a Connecticut school by a man with a semiautomatic rifle. Now, amid rising calls for state and federal bans on assault weapons and high-volume ammo clips, the electoral might of Pennsylvania gun owners might be tested anew.

When Hagerstown Police Officer Thomas Cox investigated a report of suspicious vehicles in a parking lot in April, he encountered a man with a gun. Jarvel Fostion of Hagerstown pulled the gun from his waistband during a scuffle with the officer, Cox recalled during an interview on Wednesday. Before Fostion could raise the gun high enough to point it at him, Cox whacked Fostion's arm with a flashlight, Cox said. That confrontation led to Fostion entering an Alford plea on Wednesday to first-degree assault and being ordered to serve seven years in prison.

Pennsylvania State Police said about $2,500 in cash and three guns were stolen Sunday from a home on Molly Pitcher Highway. The home in the 14000 block was entered between 9:10 a.m. and 1:20 p.m., state police said. Guns stolen in the burglary included a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun with black grips and a stainless frame, a .44-magnum Ruger Red Hawk with a 6 1/2-inch barrel and scope and a .22 caliber Ruger semi-automatic handgun with a wood grip and a stainless slide, state police said.

A Hagerstown man charged with being at the scene when a gun was pulled on two men Tuesday night in an alley near Jonathan Street appeared Thursday in Washington County District Court for a bond review hearing. Michael L. Edwards, 18, of 246 N. Mulberry St., is charged with one count each of first-degree assault, conspiracy to commit first-degree assault, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. If convicted on all counts, Edwards faces 65 years in prison. His preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. Judge Oliver John Cejka Jr. reduced Edwards' bond from $60,000 to $40,000 on Thursday.