Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan posted a video to his social media accounts Friday calling for longer mandatory minimums for gun offenders.
Hogan called on members of the Maryland General Assembly to pass his Repeat Firearms Offender Act, which would impose stricter penalties on offenders who use guns to commit violent crime.
The law would elevate use of a firearm during a violent crime from a misdemeanor to a felony, and raise the mandatory minimum sentence for a second offense from five years to 10.
“This senseless violence must stop,” Hogan wrote on social media. “We’re talking about taking our communities back and saving lives.”
This senseless violence must stop. We’re talking about taking our communities back and saving lives — the time has come for us to take a stand together. pic.twitter.com/IshBIQ2mOM
— Larry Hogan (@LarryHogan) August 9, 2019
Hogan’s renewed calls to action come just one day after a sergeant with the Baltimore police department was critically injured after being shot outside his home.
Isaac Carrington, 43, who has been with the force for 22 years, was chatting with a neighbor outside his home Thursday when a masked gunman shot him multiple time. Carrington was put on life support and remains in critical condition.
“It is time for the city and legislative leaders to finally join us and support our administration’s efforts to get the gangs and violent criminals and off our streets and behind bars where they belong,” Hogan wrote on Facebook.
A similar bill was passed during the 2018 legislative session by the then-Democratic-controlled General Assembly. The bill, which is now law, also sought to raise the mandatory minimum sentence for second-time violent offenders.
But the bill Hogan is pushing would be tougher on first-time offenders. It would require the sentence for use of a firearm during a violent crime be served in addition to the sentence handed down for the underlying violent crime.
“Enough is enough,” said Hogan in the video posted Friday.
“The time has come for all of use to stand together and finally, once and for all, pass the Repeat Firearms Offender Act.”
