The Prince George’s County Council is considering a law creating safety and mental health requirements for local firearms dealers and shooting ranges.
The proposed law would require gun dealers and range operators in the county to post and hand out literature that discusses firearm safety and suicide prevention.
The Grant Colefield Law is named after a 21-year-old who in 2019 went to a Maryland gun range, got a gun and used it to kill himself.
Earlier this month, his uncle Jeffrey Grant told the county council had such literature been presented at the gun range, his nephew may still be alive.
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“At least something or someone could’ve stopped it or he could have thought about it before he went into a shooting range and accessed the firearm that ended his life,” he testified.
The bill’s sponsor, District 7 Council member Krystal Oriadha, says the Prince George’s County Health Department would develop the language in the pamphlet.
“It has to be visibly displayed at all of these businesses and it also has to be handed to anyone who purchases a weapon, purchases ammunition or visits a gun range,” she said.
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The bill is modeled after legislation in Montgomery and Anne Arundel counties. The gun rights group Maryland Shall Issue filed a U.S. Supreme Court challenge of Anne Arundel’s law based on a First Amendment argument.
“Governments cannot compel citizens to say something they’d rather not,” Maryland Shall Issue President Mark Pennak said. “It has been the First Amendment law for many decades.”
He says the county could post literature elsewhere and set up booths outside gun ranges and dealers with the message.
“You can’t force other people to be your mouthpiece for you,” he said.
“To me, this is the easiest thing we could do,” Oriadha said. “It’s sad to me that this is something that’s argued.”
The question of whether that material can be mandated by law with fines for not doing it could be decided in the courts.
The Prince George’s County Council could vote on the Grant Colefield Law as soon as next month.
