Sanford M. Abrams of Silver Spring, Maryland is the designated recipient of the CCRKBA Gun Rights Defender of the Month Award for May.
In nominating Abrams for the Award, John Michael Snyder, CCRKBA Public Affairs Director, said “I have known Sandy for a good number of years and always have found him to be a hard-working, dedicated and articulate spokesman for the individual right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.
“Many of the political powers that be in Maryland and in some of its localities are narrow-minded and vociferously anti-gun owner. This makes things especially difficult for pro-gun spokesmen such as Sandy, but he always has risen to the challenge. He has not backed down in the face of the anti-gun powers in the State. He consistently has sought to educate the public on the rectitude of the pro-gun owner position.
“In time, let us hope his efforts and the efforts of others like him prevail. In the meantime, he is most deserving of this Award in recognition of his outstanding efforts in support of the right to keep and bear arms.”
A lifelong Maryland resident, Sandy Abrams, 48, currently is Vice President of the Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers Association, Inc. It was founded 10 years ago as an industry trade association.
A manufacturers’ representative in the firearms field, he is listed in WHO’S WHO IN SALES AND MARKETING. Sandy is President of RSM, Inc., which is trading in Baltimore, Maryland as Valley Gun.
Sandy received higher education at Baltimore City College and the University of Maryland at College Park and spent six years in the Army Reserve.
He serves as Executive Producer of the Charlton Heston Celebrity Shoot. He also is a member of the Governor’s Executive Advisory Council of the Weapons Abuse Reduction Committee. His own shooting preferences are handguns and sporting clays.
In one of his more recent battles for the pro-gun owner cause, Sandy took issue with a move in the Montgomery County, Maryland Council to, as he puts it in a hard-hitting letter to THE WASHINGTON POST, “ban gun shops and even the mere possession of firearms within 100 yards of what appears to be most of the county. The use of the phrase ‘places of public assembly’ could be interpreted to mean almost anything: a pizza parlor, a McDonald’s or anywhere more than two people congregate. Most gun shops already ban minors from entering their establishments without their parents, since there is little for them to purchase there.
“Even more insidious is that this bill effectively would ban all firearm hunting in the county. If you can not possess a firearm in any park in the county, no hunting can take place. I believe that it is the intent of some of the sponsors of this bill to ban the use of firearms in hunting, target shooting and self defense. My Izzak Walton League Chapter would close down, since Seneca Creek State Park is across the street. Any firearms retailer, including Wal-Mart and Sports Authority, would be forced to vacate their premises and move if anyone opened a day care center next door. In my own home, I could not possess a self defense firearm if a religious sect bought the house next door and started church services. This is an unfair and unreasonable approach to a problem that the council and police readily admit does not even exist.
“The push for this legislation started because Art Harris, a member of our association, dared to pursue his dream of being a purveyor of high quality hunting firearms and accessories in Bethesda. Outside his door are two benches and a light pole that someone claims is a public park. The county council will now attempt to ruin Mr. Harris financially and run him out of town on a rail. This, after first approving every permit and license application he made. They knew exactly what he would be selling. ‘The Gentleman Hunter’ could not describe any other type of retail establishment. In fact, a representative of the county’s economic development department cut the ribbon on the opening day of his establishment. Now he is faced with financial disaster, all because he dared to realize his goal, apparently a politically incorrect one.”