OCEAN CITY, Md.- Of the ten democratic candidates running for governor in Maryland, five accepted the invitation to participate in the Maryland State Bar Association Gubernatorial forum.
They discussed four main topics including climate change, access to courts, and marijuana legalization.
The topic most circulating the nation now is gun violence with multiple masks shootings happening in recent weeks.
Former Attorney General of Maryland Douglas Gansler says there needs to be education involved.
"I want to make sure that we get illegal guns off the streets," Gansler said. "I want to make sure that felons that are carrying guns and committing crimes that they’re put in jail for a long period of time. But at the same time, I started the first drug course in Maryland’s history. I started the first domestic violence course in Maryland's history and I want to make sure we have those in all 24 jurisdictions."
Former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker agrees with Gansler and says more opportunities need to be presented for people to have better lives.
"We certainly have to arrest and convict those who are committing crimes with guns," Baker said. "But two, we also have to change the environments that folks are living in. We have to provide more job opportunities and more job training. We also have to provide more mental and behavioral health."
Former Secretary of Education under President Obama John King says there needs to be extra focus on kids getting access to guns.
"We are fortunate in Maryland to have strong gun laws but they could be stronger," King said. "We could have stronger protections against for example children and accessing their parents weapon. We can have better reporting on the source of illegal guns when their seized by police so we can get to the bottom of the flow of illegal guns into the state."
While former non-profit executive Jon Baron would like to see Maryland implement similar polices to other states.
"Maryland should do what Massachusetts and Oregon have down which is to require gun owners to have their guns locked and stored when they are not using them," Baron said.
"Bread and Roses" socialist Jerome Segal says he would change the age where people can get access to guns.
"I would prevent access to guns at least until people are age 21 rather than 18," Segal said. "There’s an awful lot of craziness that happens in those years while the brain is still is still developing."
Agendas with different focuses on gun violence that all five agree needs to stop across the nation and they don’t want that happening in Maryland.