“A right delayed is a right denied,” someone very famous once said. Maryland residents already face some of the harshest gun control laws in America. Now, thanks to a “catastrophic” computer hardware failure, handgun purchases have stopped in that state as background checks cannot take place. This leaves Old Line State residents waiting indefinitely for the Maryland State Police to getting around to fixing the problem.
Yes, the formerly seven-day waiting period has been indefinitely extended as the Maryland State Police advise dealers not to complete any sales until their gun control scheme is fixed. Sounds reasonable, right? Maybe to Shannon Watts.
From the Washington Free Beacon:
Maryland’s background check system has crashed, creating new hurdles for residents who are already subject to one of the strictest gun-control regimes in the country.
Maryland State Police confirmed on Tuesday night that the system they use to process background checks for handgun-purchase permits crashed on Sunday and remains down. The state police are now advising dealers to hold recently purchased handguns as they attempt to fix the system but have provided no timetable for fixing the issue. Marylanders may have to wait well beyond the seven days required under state law to take home their legally purchased handguns.
“The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) experienced a failure in their data system, which has inhibited our ability to do complete background checks for individuals purchasing regulated firearms or applying for handgun qualification licenses or carry permits,” state police spokesman Greg Shipley told the Washington Free Beacon. “The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is working diligently to fix the problem.”
The system’s crash has hampered the Second Amendment rights of state residents, according to gun-rights activists. Mark Pennak, president of the gun-rights group Maryland Shall Issue, said his members are being affected by the delays. He said the problem was compounded by the state’s gun laws, which are among the strictest in the nation, especially when it comes to purchasing handguns. The week-long waiting period becomes indefinite as long as background checks cannot be performed.
Because in this time of widespread civil unrest, rioting, looting and surging violent crime, why would anyone want to buy a gun? Especially someone who doesn’t already own one.
Did the VIC20 finally die?
LOL. I had a commodore 64. Paid $695 for it too. And another hundred and some for a crappy-assed floppy disk (5.25″ inch version) too. Held 144 kb if I recall! Those were the days.
As a kid long ago, I learned BASIC code on a Commodore 64.
I was a BASIC kid too, with a 5 1/4 floppy stashed inside my paper bag-covered Physics text book.
And I wrote assembly language code for the 6502 processor used in both the Commodore 64 and the 1540 and 1541 disk drives. A disk speedup utility, a knock simulator to do software disk errors for copy protection instead of hammering the disk drive and a full fledged copy utility which was able to make the damned disk errors that some software depended on to tell it was the original disk were the more popular ones.
Only real problem with the Commodore 64 was there was no money in coding for it. I made more off of a single part of a program I assisted in for Apple II machines than I did off of the 11 written for the Commodores.
Oh man, the memories. I learned computering on one of those. Kept it until Windows 95 SP2, and probably shouldn’t have thrown it out.
Got my first computer, a TRS80 in 1975.
It had 4 KILOBYTES of memory, no hard drive and a 12″ b/w screen for $499.
it also had 4 KILOBYTES of rom, and the Zilog processor ran at 1.77 MEGAHERTZ.
Screen resolution 128×48….. 🙂
I later updated to 16 KILOBYTES ram, and added a tape drive.
The majority of people I know now weren’t even born then.
My current HP from 2015 has 32 GIGABYTES of ram, 3 TERABYTE drive and a 27″ screen for $1,550.
The Intel i7-4790 processor quad-core runs at 3.6 GIGAHERTZ…..
Screen resolution is 1920×1080
The TRS80 would take 35 minutes to do what my current one does in 1 second..
Really amazing crap..!!!!
Back in 1975, the TRS price was 46% of my monthly income
in 2015, the HP system price was 14% of my monthly income. MUCH CHEAPER…
——————————————————————
As far as the Maryland computer breakdown, I don’t believe it for a second.
It was caused by the state or a libtard employee…
We had a lab of trash 80s in elementary school. Once a week or so we’d get taken down there to mess around. Unfortunately none of the teachers had a clue about computers so we had to figure things out for ourselves.
Remember Moonlander?
The TRS80 CoCo2 was the first one I could call mine. Was $20 from a pawn shop and no books or literature at all. I had to write a program to pull all the BASIC words from memory to fully take advantage of it. I miss those days sometimes.
I thought the TRS-80 came out in 1977.
I bought one in 1978.
I paid 600 bucks for a SeaGate 20 megabyte hard drive in 1986. You can get a flash drive with that capacity for 3 dollars now.
Still have a couple PC JRs with monitors and accessories in original boxes……….holding for likely Smithsonian request. Offers? Offers? Offers?
Naah. I think they upgraded to a TRS-80 and are waiting for the service tech from Radio Shack to come out and fix it.
They’re probably waiting for someone to answer the Radio Shack phone.
the UNIVAC is still going strong, as long as the tubes don’t wear out
Heard someone kicked over the stacks of punch cards. All hands on board sorting them out…..I’m sure.
I had one of those…….I think it might still be in the attic…
my one sis did ad copy and graphics for a while. loved her amiga.
kid i worked with wrote some lame game onto his ti2. lame to me, but he was so excited.
i remember someone’s dad showing off the marvelous things his ts80 could do. it never clicked with me. slot cars i understood.
For the day, the Amiga was very powerful computer.
If memory serves, the CPU was the same 32-bit CPU the first Macintosh used…
Does the federal or Maryland law regarding a wait period between purchase and delivery make provision for suspending the law if computers crash? Does federal or Maryland law order suspension/prohibition of gun sales if a computer crashes?
Federal law specifies that in the case of a delay the transfer can go through after 3 business days. It sounds like the Maryland law doesn’t have any such failsafe…
So, then, if some Antifa mole in the state’s database server room happens to get the secret call to execute “Order 66” and pulls a plug out of a wall, does everyone’s 2A get put on the shelf?
That’s sure what it sounds like. The federal provision to fail open after 3 days was visionary.
Someone denied a pickup needs to sue them for violation of civil rights.
A right delayed, etc…
Maryland law allows a dealer to transfer a regulated weapon after 7 days (Sunday and holidays don’t count). Some dealers will, some won’t.
I think we are seeing a feature not a bug.
After all of the cute computer remarks are over the fact remains that you HAVE to get a PERMIT TO PURCHASE a pistol in Maryland. This should never have been allowed in the first place. In a small state where one of the contenders for murder capitol exists one should never have to BEG FOR A RIGHT.
One should not have to ask permission to exercise a right anywhere. Yet here we are, fixing the NICS instead of abolishing it.
If anyone really believes the computer just happened to fail in the middle of the biggest gun buying surge in history when the leftists are taking over the streets, I have a bridge for sale. Lets see….Maryland is controlled by who?
Let the lawsuits commence!
Why? It’ll be moot before it gets the first hearing.
Not really because it could happen again and again and again. But, yeah, you’re right. It’ll be moot whether it is or not. Such is the state of our “judicial system”.
“Why? It’ll be moot before it gets the first hearing.”
They were damaged, they weren’t allowed to pickup when the law said they could…
Convenient wouldn’t you say. Hmmmmmm.
I’m 9 days into my unconstitutional 7-day waiting period. Thanks for the article.
Come to the Hooshier state , Here in Indiana you can purchase any weapon and walk out the door in just a few minutes. The last hand gun I bought I spent less than 15 minutes in the store . I was in the woods shooting in less than an hour. Starting July 1 2020 a 5 years permit to carry will be Free. Indiana does some things right.
Allegedly!
What are the chances that this catastrophic crash was due to the government of Maryland freaking the hell out at the number of sales going on right now and trying to figure out a way to slow everything down?
I’ve worked in government IT for close to 20 years now and while I’m rarely surprised at how poorly maintained some so called critical systems are this seems a little fishy to me.
I’d say the odds are excellent. Jersey gave them the idea. If you don’t process background checks you don’t arm the victims.
Citizens have rights. Subjects have privileges, like purchasing a firearm whenever it suits the constabulary in Maryland.
How complex could the system possibly? No backup? You can buy a ten terabyte hard drive for less than two hundred bucks. What kind of operation are they running anyway?
The system should be recoverable, at least they can reinstall the software. The data is undoubtedly safely tucked away in the cloud.
Now is there budget or motivation to fix it? You be the judge.
The water is getting hot right now and Baltimore has been awful quiet. I wonder if they see an eruption coming.
I got caught up in the crash, but didn’t realize it until today when I read the article. I was supposed to pick up my weapon on Monday, 22 June. When I was not notified I thought it was strange. Yes, I would have preferred they comply with the 7 Day wait, but they notified me on Wed, 24 June that I could pick up from dealer if it was over 7 days but stated that they would rather you wait.
Just to be fair (relative term in Maryland) they did notify and allow an opportunity to get your weapon anyway.
How convenient.
The fake news media will spin the computer glitch to add 5 polling points to Jim Crow Gun Control Joe Biden’s so called shoe-in victory in Nov. On the other hand…
“PAST Black Lives Matter.” After all the democRat Party owns the legacy of slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, lynching, the KKK, Eugenics, Gun Control and other race based atrocities. Instead of history illiterates pulling down token inanimate statues the democRat Party should be zeroed in on and held liable for their democRat Party long, long history of race based atrocities.
The democRat Party should be made to pay Monetary Reparations to the victims or descendants of the victims of democRat Party race based atrocities.
Bottom line…the sleazy hypocrite democRat Party needs stfu and PAY UP.
I agree with you completely. Since you are obviously quite intelligent, I assume Debbie W. isn’t short for Debbie Wasserman-Schultz! Arrrg! Just another low life from the swamp.
“I had the master plan
I’m in the caravan on my way to Maryland
With my man Tutex to take over these projects
They call him Tutex, he tote two TEC’s
And when he starts to bust
He likes to ask who’s next?”
Omar comin’.
Buy guns early and often.
Mississippi. Y’all figure it out. 🙂
Always be a good customer to your local FFL in Maryland. They will always take care of you and will always help support god given rights. Mine, in Timonium, is awesome. Great family. Great workers. Sure, stuff is cheaper online, but they go above and beyond and it’s worth the extra cost.
So, you are sure they will give you your gat even if the background check did not come through yet?
It’s sure ironic that with the amount of gun background checks being applied for in the State of Maryland, the data bases, coincidentally, went down?? Time for Maryland applicants to invoke Title 18, Section 242 – read on:
DEPRIVATION OF RIGHTS UNDER COLOR OF LAW
SUMMARY:
Section 242 of Title 18 makes it a crime for a person acting under color of any law to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.
For the purpose of Section 242, acts under “color of law” include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within the their lawful authority, but also acts done beyond the bounds of that official’s lawful authority, if the acts are done while the official is purporting to or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties. Persons acting under color of law within the meaning of this statute include police officers, prisons guards and other law enforcement officials, as well as judges, care providers in public health facilities, and others who are acting as public officials. It is not necessary that the crime be motivated by animus toward the race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin of the victim.
The offense is punishable by a range of imprisonment up to a life term, or the death penalty, depending upon the circumstances of the crime, and the resulting injury, if any.
TITLE 18, U.S.C., SECTION 242
Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
http://www.justice.gov
Think about it and then file suit! Let me know what you think??
Well, the problem is, that’s a criminal charge, not civil, that the US Attorney for the district of Maryland would have to file against the MD Gov, the entire MD General Assembly, and/or the Maryland State Police. Sorry, ain’t gonna happen.
Are the people running this scam, oops pardon me, system really being paid, from the public purse no less?
In Colorado, I bought a Glock 44 the day before Father’s Day for my son. The CBI was at 2 day wait for the background, instead of 10 minutes. Today, it heard them tell a customer it was 4 days. I don’t know where the volume is coming from. The store had no ammo, no shotguns, ARs only in .308 and 6.5, and 20ish handguns.
Looks like its now up to the FLL to decide what to do. Update from the MD State Police Licensing Division web page:
77R applications submitted 8 days prior will have complied with the mandatory 7-day waiting period as per MD Public Safety Article § 5-123(A) and will be eligible for transfer to the applicant. The MD State police Licensing Division encourages Regulated Firearms Dealers (RFD) not to transfer these firarms until background checks have been completed; however, should the RFD elect to exercise their statutory option to release the firearm on the 8th day, the RFD shall comply with the procedures set forth in Advisory LD-FRU-20-002​ which can be located in the documents section of the Regulated Firearms Dealers Page of the Maryland State Police Licensing Division Webpage.