After a weekend in which 18 people were shot in Baltimore, including a police detective who was injured and a 4-year-old boy who died, Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld used the spate of violence to argue for tighter gun laws in Maryland, reports the Baltimore Sun. Bealefeld bemoaned the availability of illegal guns, and said the arrest record of a man accused of opening fire on a city police officer Friday night underscores the point.
Gerry Gough, 23, was arrested in 2009 with a loaded semiautomatic handgun, telling police he carried the weapon for protection and knew how to get more — his cellphone wallpaper even displayed an image of him clutching a weapon He got just six months in jail. “After they get arrested, they get guns again. To say it minimally, it’s [exasperating] that more people don’t understand the enormous ramifications of these guys running around the city with these handguns,” Bealefeld said. “[Baltimore residents] expect that when people do bad things, they’re going to be held accountable.”