I have owned and safely used firearms most of my 48 years. My father first took me target shooting when I was about eight.  He wanted me to know safety, and together we attended NY state hunter safety training. At 16, he gave me a twenty gauge shotgun. I lived in Maryland then, obtained a hunting license and with it I went smallgame hunting several years while living in PG county Maryland.  Later (in my twenties) while serving in the military, I held a Virginia hunting license, and went hunting on Quantico Marine Base.  Now, at 48 and after being away from shooting sports for a few years my interest has returned.

This year I started taking my nine year old son and ten year old daughter to the NRA headquarters shooting range. My kids have learned safety, and they've handled and shot  both rifles and handguns. My goal in doing this is of course to have fun, but while doing so pass the knowledge of safe, lawful, firearms ownership and usage on to my children. What is the point of writing this and what does it have to do with this pettition, you might ask?

Because this state is chock full of regular citizens like me - citizens who are lawful firearms owners you never hear about - and they are precisely who this petition is for. We are not a bunch of "gun nuts", or people on the periphery of society. We are mainstream folks - hunters, hikers, campers, fathers, and mothers, clergy, law enforcement, soldiers, sailors, teachers, voters - who see the passage of this pettion as not harmful to society at large.  Please give this Pettion for Rulemaking the consideration we law abiding citizens deserve.