It turns out anyone can get into politics ... and does too!

With the spotlight on Maryland's General Assembly earlier this spring, we took nominations for the squirrelliest political quotes, movements, positions, debates or pure situation art of the legislative session. Competition for the coveted Squirrelly Award for most entertaining display of political naivete was stiff, but with the session over, a clear winner emerged.

Remember: for your safety, do not feed the squirrels!

Professionals stop bad bills at the earliest and cheapest point for a host of sound reasons. Not so for our winners. At a time when gun advocates had paid dearly to halt the advance of gun control in committees, these squirrels worked hard to clear the roadblocks, giving legislators the go-ahead to vote gun control bills (knowing the votes were there to pass them) in the belief that uncorking the bottle would release their doomed carry bill for a vote at the same time. And how did they propose to ultimately stop the gun ban they would have unleashed? Referendum ... getting enough signatures on a petition in time for the ban to be placed on the next statewide ballot for the people to vote up or down.

The price of these squirrels validating their relevence would be an enormous hit to issue advocacy. Liberal press would love to reverse a conservative trend on our issue, giving free advertising to gun grabbers at a time when we can't buy advertising. Never mind the hit our image would take in the eyes of voters who would largely only hear the anti-gun view, or how many friendly legislators in awkward districts would needlessly give up their seats in a fight that only the squirrels picked for us.

Lacking political experience that dates back past last month, these squirrels haven't any clue about what referendums have done. A Maryland referendum (initiated by conservatives) kept abortion "safe and legal" (except for the baby) in the face of national-scale spending by right-to-life groups. A Maryland referendum institutionalized the handgun ban of 1988 after a quarter million Maryland gun owners spent millions of dollars fighting in vain to overturn it. MSI begs this kind of fight armed only with letterhead and a web site, all at a time when the gun community was starting to make solid gains by finally working together and demonstrating political sense. Now that's squirrelly!

The squirrels saying this have tried to whip up a quick following by promising Right to Carry, which is infringed in Maryland. Badly. Well-intentioned and sincere people will answer any call to arms if it could win the crown jewell of our legislative goals. But the true situation is far different than what the squirrels say. We've already long-since nailed down as many positions as we're going to get on carry for the term, yet the squirrels make their predictions based on a bill that gained 25 percent fewer House co-sponsors than when we carried it forward, and for which they couldn't get a single Senate sponsor.

No restoration is in the cards this year, and any claims it is feasible are tantamount to fraud.

(Of course, they've never been to Annapolis before either.)

The 2004 battle over assault weapon bans was won by pro-gun forces with these squirrels on the outside loudly demanding action. But then the worst happened: no media gave their squirrel-calls from the sidelines any credit for the kill! So this year they're off to Annapolis, intent on validating their own self-importance by showing they can kill gun bills too. We just wish they wouldn't do it by killing pro-gun bills.

The problem is simple: real pro-gun groups are trying to quietly advance achievable bills on behalf of the community (e.g., new range protection measures and repeal of ballistic fingerprinting) at the same time the squirrels are loudly putting a thumb in the eye of members in leadership over their high-profile carry bill. These would be the same legislators that we're politely working with to enact good bills. The net result? All the bills will die (as recently announced by the House Speaker, in response to challenge from the squirrel's prime sponsor on their carry bill.) It means we miss a chance to drive a stake through the heart of one entire form of gun control nationally (ballistic fingerprinting) and locally, ranges will close leaving the squirrels fewer places to go shoot (or forage for nuts.)

These brave squirrels will soon be road kill for not following the rule "never believe your own BS." The forest is all abuzz with the sound of satisfied squirrels talking about how they took out the previous House Speaker over gun issues. The more they listen to themselves talk, the bolder they become. They now think they can erect 'heads on pikes' whereever they please. They have boldly announced plans to politically replace the present Speaker, Mike Busch; the Senate President, Mike Miller; and the very anti-gun Chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, Brian Frosh. [All people we need to look kindly on the legislation we're trying to pass, by the way. Our advice? Never tell someone you're going to put his head on a pike, and then ask him for his vote.] This at least would be entertaining, if it didn't take our issue down along with them.