"The day after, Saturday morning, I sat down and drafted a task force bill to ensure that there's a thorough examination of all the issues surrounding a tragedy like this," said Del. Patrick Hogan, (R), Frederick County.
Those issues include school safety, mental health, gun laws, and media access to information.
The task force would include 25 to 40 people.
"It would be representatives from the mental health community, so mental health experts, representatives from law enforcement, from school administration, and both advocates for gun control and advocates for gun rights," says Hogan.
Hogan isn't the only one in the Frederick County Delegation sponsoring a bill in response to the shooting. Two other members are trying to help the Mental Health Association of Frederick County.
"Delegate Clagett and I will both be introducing legislation to try and transfer some bond money that was already approved for a project in Frederick," said Sen. David Brinkley, (R), Frederick County.
The bills would transfer $375,000 in bond money to the Mental Health Association. $200,000 would need to be approved by the Maryland House of Delegates, and $175,000 would need to be approved by the Maryland Senate.
"An awful lot of people have focused on the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut," says Brinkley. "We also have to look at the root of it, and in this case, I think there's a tremendous need for mental health services and the whole mental health issue."
Those are issues lawmakers will begin discussing when Maryland General Assembly goes into session on January 9th.
Governor Martin O'Malley (D) plans to introduce bills on mental health, gun control, and school safety, but the details of those bills haven't been ironed out yet.
"I think that the governor and others need to be careful not to make people think that if we just pass a couple of gun laws that's going to solve the problem and think that's going to prevent tragedies like this from happening because I think it's a lot more complicated issue than that," Hogan said.
Delegate Michael Hough (R), of Washington and Frederick Counties, plans to sponsor his own bill creating a mental health task force.
