Taser Ban Lifted in Howard County

ELLICOTT CITY, MD — The Howard County Council voted Tuesday night to repeal a ban on Tasers.

On Feb. 2, a lawsuit was filed against Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Howard County challenging their electronic weapons bans. According to a statement from the county, three people from Howard County were part of the suit, claiming they could not purchase Tasers for self-defense and this was a violation of their right to bear arms.

The Supreme Court ruled last March that electronic weapons such as Tasers were included in the Second Amendment.

The Howard County Council voted 4-1 to repeal its ban on the use of Tasers, according to Fox 45, which reported that Councilwoman Jen Terrasa — the sole opponent of the emergency legislation — said it was being pushed through too quickly.

Other counties including Anne Arundel, Prince George's and Montgomery have repealed their bans on the use of electronic weapons.

Howard County’s initial response to the lawsuit is due on Thursday, according to County Executive Allan Kittleman, who said he had been working on legislation in response to the case.

Kittleman issued this statement on Feb. 21:

I want to thank the County Council for acting quickly to pass emergency legislation to repeal section 8.404 of the Howard County Code, which prohibited the purchase, possession, and use of electronic weapons such as tasers and stun guns.

In March 2016, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion in Caetano v. Massachusetts that has been interpreted as effectively holding that electronic weapons are “bearable arms” and that a complete ban on their sale, possession, and use would violate the Second Amendment.

In April 2016, the Chief of Police notified the County Council that, in light of Caetano, he had directed Howard County police officers not to enforce 8.404. My Administration was already working on legislation in response to the Caetano case.

Then, on February 2, 2017, Howard County was served with a lawsuit filed against Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Howard County challenging their respective ordinances banning electronic weapons. The three Howard County plaintiffs claimed they wanted to purchase tasers to use for self-defense and were unable to purchase them because of 8.404. Howard County’s initial response to the lawsuit is due on Thursday, February 23.

The repeal of 8.404 will bring Howard County into compliance with the law and current practices and ensure that Howard County citizens can fully exercise their rights as quickly as possible. State limits on the sale and possession of tasers and stun guns remain in place.

Image via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0 Generic.