MARYLAND, USA — Hundreds of laws are set to go in effect in Maryland on October 1.
Lawmakers passed several laws aimed at health awareness and criminal justice issues within Maryland.
The state is raising the age to buy tobacco products, including electronic smoking devices, from 18 to 21 on Tuesday.
Maryland is changing the definition of a tobacco product to include electronic smoking, known as vaping.
People under the age of 18 will not be able to use any tanning devices in the state, including sunlamps, tanning booths or tanning beds. The law states they will need written consent from a parent or guardian to receive tanning services.
Lawmakers updated Maryland's 2013 law against cyberbullying minors. The new law, also known as Grace's Law 2.0, makes it an offense to send out messages online to a broad audience, instead of only directly against the minor. The law also hardens penalties for online harassment with the intent of encouraging a minor to commit suicide
Maryland also is criminalizing the display of sexually-exploited children and digitally-generated images that are indistinguishable from real photos.
Also, a Maryland law banning the sale of bump stocks, an attachment increasing a semi-automatic rifle's firing rate, is going into effect Tuesday.
The law is one of a variety of gun regulation bills passed during the 2018 legislative session.
Senate Bill 707 states that it "prohibits a person from transporting a certain rapid-fire trigger activator into [Maryland] or manufacturing, possessing, selling, offering to sell, transferring, purchasing, or receiving a certain rapid-fire trigger activator," not owned prior to Oct. 1, 2018.
Violation of the law is a misdemeanor and carries a penalty of a maximum three years imprisonment, $5,000 fine or both.
Bump stocks were found on 12 of the rifles used in the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 people and wounded more than 800.
Laura and Reid's Law is named after Lauren Wallen and her unborn child.
She was a pregnant Howard County school teacher who was murdered. This law enforces stricter penalties for killing a pregnant woman.