Maryland ranks seventh among the states for laws that help keep guns out of the hands of criminals, according to the 2015 Brady Campaign.
Named after Jim Brady, Ronald Reagan’s former press secretary who was shot and partially paralyzed in 1981 during the attempted assassination of the president, the Brady Campaign releases yearly reports on the effectiveness of states’ gun laws.
Unlike in previous years, the campaign ranked states this year solely on policies that make it difficult for criminal to legally obtain firearms.
Additionally, the Brady Campaign launched CrimAdvisor.com, a satirical website that purports to help criminals choose the best destination, i.e. states with lax gun laws, to obtain and traffic firearms.
This year, Delaware ranked ninth for best state gun laws.
Maryland and Delaware are both ranked high because both require background checks to purchase a gun and prohibit those with a history of violence from obtaining a carry permit.
Virginia, however, did not do as well as its tri-state counterparts in the Brady Campaign rankings, finishing seventh on the 2015 Criminals’ Choice and the Traffickers’ Top 10.
The Brady Campaign cites non-residents obtaining permits through the mail, no background checks, and lax conceal/carry laws as reasons for Virginia’s poor ranking.
