Baltimore Sun: Compelled Speech is a ‘Common Sense’ Price Gun Sellers Should Pay for the RKBA

Constitutional rights are always a balancing act. The right to free speech famously is offset by the threat posed by falsely yelling, “Fire!” in a crowded theater, which could provoke a potentially deadly stampede for the exits. But if gun rights advocates want the public — particularly the non-gun-owning part of the population — to develop some empathy toward their circumstances, they ought to welcome the chance to demonstrate that they can act responsibly. Filing a lawsuit to prevent their customers from becoming better educated on suicide by firearm screams the kind of Second Amendment absolutism that only hurts their cause.

It is unfortunate that groups like Maryland Shall Issue and the National Rifle Association raise a lot of money on the local and national stage by scaring their members silly with sky-is-falling assessments about gun rights. We do not oppose responsible gun ownership, but polls have consistently shown a lot of Marylanders would like to see further restrictions. The rise in gun suicides during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the local gun dealers’ apparent indifference toward them, add fuel to that fire. Gun dealers, along with their customers, must know that with rights come responsibilities.

– Baltimore Sun Editorial Board in Anne Arundel Gun Dealers Balk at Common Sense Safety Pamphlet, Revealing Gun Control Paranoia