The city police union, prompted by a Park Heights billboard that advertised bulletproof vests, wants to make it illegal for most Baltimore residents to own or sell body armor.
The Fraternal Order of Police said it was outraged by the $H billboard, which carried a toll-free number and touted vests as "life insurance for the '90s." The sale of bulletproof vests should be limited to ensure that criminals are not as well protected as police, the union said.
"They are kidding themselves if they think the average citizen is going to spend hundreds of dollars for body armor so they can go stand on a corner and wait for a bus," said FOP President Gary McLhinney, who asserts that the ad was aimed at drug dealers. "Criminals are the ones who are going to buy this."
Spurred by the union's concerns, City Council President Mary Pat Clarke plans to introduce a bill tonight to restrict ownership of the protective vests to police officers or to people who have permission from the police commissioner.
Police officers patrolling the 5400 block of Reisterstown Road noticed the billboard last month. Penn Advertising covered the ad Nov. 23 after receiving police complaints and canceled the contract.
Robert Abrams, a Baltimore resident who owns the company selling the vests, says the proposed law smacks of fascism by officials who don't want to acknowledge how dangerous some city streets are.
"They are denying me the right as a businessman to pursue commerce," said Mr. Abrams, whose company is called Second Chance Safety. "I don't rob banks, and I don't sell dope. I had to do things the legal way, so I started my own business.
"I had to think of something that everyone needs and nobody is selling. I believe there is a market, since so many of us are being killed."
Mr. Abrams, who said his business is not aimed at drug dealers, said he has gotten queries from lawyers, abortion doctors and pizza delivery workers.
"I support the police 100 percent," he said. "But I also have a right to make a living. The police can make a big deal about guns, because guns kill people. But vests save people."
Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said he is not sure whether his administration will support the bill, adding that selling or owning a vest "is a matter of personal choice."
But he said he was offended by the billboard, which showed an enlarged picture of three bullets that the vest should stop.
"Those kinds of ads are an insult to the community," Mr. Schmoke said. "It's an attempt to characterize the whole community as in need of bulletproof vests."
Sam Walters, who owns a downtown store called the Cop Shop that sells equipment to law enforcement officers, said he tightly controls body armor sales. Police officers and people licensed to carry handguns, such as business owners and security guards, can buy the vests, the retired city police officer said.
"We've gotten people who come in here and offer me two times the retail cost of the vest, and we refuse to sell them," said Mr. Walters, who sells top-of-the-line vests by Second Chance, a Michigan-based company.
Second Chance spokeswoman Pam Hinz said company lawyers have contacted Mr. Abrams and warned him to change the name of his mail-order business.
Ms. Hinz said Second Chance sells almost exclusively to police and military officers. It makes exceptions, she said, for business owners who show a legitimate need for protection and can get a recommendation from their local police.
But Robert Abrams, general manager of the Valley Gun Shop in " Parkville, said the proposed legislation is nothing more then a political show.
The gun shop manager, who is not related to Second Chance Safety's owner, said his store also restricts its vest sales. But he said the city's measure would prevent small-business owners and others from protecting themselves.
"If Mrs. Clarke wants to look into crime control, she should build a few more prisons and put criminals in them, rather than this ridiculous show," he said. "We have to stop playing games and start stopping crime."