Annapolis, MD—Larry Hogan has failed to keep Marylanders safe, with all violent crimes up 10 percent and homicides up 50 percent since he entered office. Hogan, who has an A-minus NRA rating, refuses to join States for Gun Safety, a multi-state bipartisan task force that will work together to trace and intercept illegal weapons. Members of the task force will also share best practices, intelligence and leverage their combined investigative resources to prevent weapons from being trafficked across state lines.
In March, Marylanders learned for the first time that 1,500 rounds of high-caliber assault weapon ammunition went missing during the Maryland National Guard’s 2015 deployment in Baltimore. According to news reports, Maryland officials were “immediately” made aware of the missing ammunition three years ago, yet Marylanders were kept completely in the dark until WBAL News broke the story.
“Governor Hogan’s first job is to keep Marylanders safe and he has failed to do that,” said Maryland Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Matthews. “Violent crime and homicides are up statewide under the Hogan administration and his small ideas on crime have done nothing to get it under control. Ben Jealous has a concrete plan to take a smarter, more effective approach to crime reduction that strengthens programs like Safe Streets to reduce violence and attacks the root causes of crime so we can keep our communities safe and prevent gun violence.”
