According to public opinion polls, prior to 1988, about 70 percent of all Americans favored laws requiring a permit to purchase a gun. Between 1977 and 1985, the rate of crimes committed with firearms peaked around 1980. The national firearms murder rate reached a high of 13,553 murders in 1980, and the rate of assaults involving firearms rose to 65 per 100,000. According to Uniform Crime Reporting statistics for Maryland, the State's rate for murder involving guns is approximately the same as national rates of firearms use in assaults and robberies. Handguns account for nearly half of all murders, with rifles and shotguns used infrequently. Gunshots represent the eighth leading cause of death in Maryland. Because 20 percent of all robberies and about 60 percent of all homicides are committed with firearms, gun control is needed. A new Federal gun control act was enacted in 1986 and, since January 1989, about 10 bills limiting the sale or possession of semiautomatic weapons and other guns have been introduced in Congress. State and local gun control laws tend to fit into six categories: dealer controls and recordkeeping requirements, licensing and registration, acquisition and transfer by private citizens, carrying restrictions, prohibition of certain gun types, and minimum sentences for using or possessing firearms. An appendix summarizes provisions of State gun control laws. 23 footnotes, 3 tables, and 8 figures