40                                Laws of Maryland                        [Ch. 13

Sec. 2. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That
Section 36A (c) of Article 27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1971 Replacement Volume and 1971 Supplement), title "Crimes
and Punishments," subtitle "I. Crimes and Punishments," subheading
"Carrying Deadly Weapon on Public School Property," be and it is
hereby repealed and re-enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

36A.

(c) Any person who violates this section shall, upon conviction, be
guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be sentenced to pay a fine of no
more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or shall be sentenced
to the Maryland Department of Correction for a period of not more
than three (3) years. Any such person who shall be found to carry a
handgun in violation of this Section 36A, shall be sentenced as pro-
vided in Section 36B of this article.

Sec. 3. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That
new Sections 36B, 36C, 36D, 36E, and 36F be and they are hereby
added to Article 27 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1971 Re-
placement Volume and 1971 Supplement), title "Crimes and Punish-
ments," subtitle "I. Crimes and Punishments," to follow immediately
after Section 36A thereof and to be under the new subheading "Hand-
guns" and to read as follows:

36B. Wearing, carrying or transporting handguns.

(a)  Declaration of Policy. The General Assembly of Maryland
hereby finds and declares that:

(i) there has, in recent years, been an alarming increase in the
number of violent crimes perpetrated in Maryland, and a high per-
centage of those crimes involve the use of handguns;

(ii) the result has been a substantial increase in the number of
persons killed or injured which is traceable, in large part, to the
carrying of handguns on the streets and public ways by persons in-
clined to use them in criminal activity;

(iii) the laws currently in force have not been effective in curbing
the more frequent use of handguns in perpetrating crime; and

(iv) further regulations on the wearing, carrying, and transport-
ing of handguns are necessary to preserve the peace and tranquility
of the State and to protect the rights and liberties of its citizens.

(b)   Unlawful wearing, carrying, or transporting of handguns.
Any person who shall wear, carry, or transport any handgun, whether
concealed or open, upon or about Ms person, and any person who
shall wear, carry or KNOWINGLY transport any handgun, whether
concealed or open, in any vehicle traveling upon the public roads,
highways, waterways, or airways or upon roads or parking lots
generally used by the public in this State shall be guilty of a mis-
demeanor, and on conviction thereof, ; AND IT SHALL BE A
REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION THAT THE PERSON IS KNOW-
INGLY TRANSPORTING THE HANDGUN; AND ON CONVIC-
TION OF THE MISDEMEANOR shall be fined or imprisoned as
follows: