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Alabama faces battle at the ballot box; groups look to federal laws for protection; Israeli Cabinet votes to shut down Al Jazeera in the country; Florida among top states for children losing health coverage post-COVID; despite the increase, SD teacher salary one of the lowest in the country.

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Civil rights groups criticize police actions against student protesters, Republicans accuse Democrats of "buying votes" through student debt relief, and anti-abortion groups plan legal challenges to a Florida ballot referendum.

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Bidding begins soon for Wyoming's elk antlers, Southeastern states gained population in the past year, small rural energy projects are losing out to bigger proposals, and a rural arts cooperative is filling the gap for schools in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Maryland Activists Want State's New Gun Law to be National Model

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Tuesday, April 16, 2013   

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Just a few weeks after the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation requiring gun buyers to submit to fingerprinting, local activists are calling on Congress to pay attention.

Becky Wagner, executive director of Advocates for Children and Youth, wants Maryland's law to be a national model, and she said it will help keep guns off the streets and out of the hands of criminals.

"In Maryland, children are going to be safer no matter how tough their neighborhood, or how unsafe they feel going to and from school," she declared.

A compromise plan advancing in the U.S. Senate would require background checks for people who buy guns at gun shows and on the Internet, but does not require them to submit to fingerprinting.

According to Wagner, that doesn't go far enough.

"It is a long way from what Maryland has done," she stated. "And I have a hard time empathizing with the fact that a background check is inconvenient."

Wagner hopes the eventual success of stricter background checks in Maryland and other states will affect the national debate.

Maryland's soon-to-be-signed law could be in jeopardy, though. Critics are promising to force a referendum that would let voters decide whether it should stand.





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