Gov. Parris N. Glendening has backed away from gun control again, withdrawing proposed regulations that would have toughened Maryland's handgun law.
The regulations, approved by former Gov. William Donald Schaefer on Jan. 17, his last full day in office, would have given the state's Handgun Roster Board more specific standards for determining which handguns should be banned for sale in Maryland.
The proposal also would have given the board authority to apply those new standards retroactively to handguns it has approved for sale in the past.
Mr. Glendening, who campaigned heavily for gun control before his election in November, said yesterday that since his staff already had discovered flaws in the regulations' language, he has decided to withdraw the regulations.
Before taking office, the governor announced a moratorium on gun-control measures this session and promised instead to create a commission to report on gun violence. During the campaign, he pledged support for a number of gun-control measures, including the licensing of handgun owners.
"We made a strong commitment to handle the entire issue in the 1996 [legislative] session," Mr. Glendening said. "Since there were technical problems anyway, we're going to go ahead and (( hold them."
The governor said he expects the commission to look at the regulations and possibly incorporate them in more comprehensive legislation to be offered next year.
Gun control advocates expressed only mild disappointment with the decision.
"We are talking about death, and I don't think it's OK to defer it for a year, but it's also not an issue that is solved with one act," said Richard M. Willis, executive director of Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse. "It's disappointing, but I think it's a reasonable approach."
Mr. Willis said he still has great confidence in the governor, who two weeks ago agreed to serve as his organization's honorary chairman.
Battle lines already were being drawn in the Senate-House committee that oversees rule-making. Members of the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review had called for a public hearing to be held later this month.
Del. Peter Franchot, D-Montgomery, said the rules had the potential to become a "major legislative battle" at a time when there is "no appetite" for gun-control debate. The regulations were written too broadly and needed to be corrected anyway, he said.
"We get another year before the war starts," said House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr., D-Allegany, a gun-control opponent. "He's being consistent with his earlier decision. I've been urging him to do it."