Beretta ARX-160, with optional grenade launcher. (Via Wikipedia)

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley will likely sign the bill giving his state one of of the strictest sets of gun control laws in the nation later this week. The legislation, which was passed by the House of Delegates last week, would require fingerprinting and licensing of all handgun buyers and impose a ban on many types of semiautomatic rifles.

O’Malley proposed tightening his state’s gun regulations in January, a month after a gunman killed 20 students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The House of Delegates’ version of the bill restricts fewer assault weapons than O’Malley’s original proposal, but is expected to be adopted by the Maryland Senate later this week, clearing the final version’s way to the governor’s signature.

The Capital Gazette reports that while the bill would still give Maryland some of the toughest gun laws in the United States, it has been watered down a bit from O’Malley’s original proposal:

The House version also loosens training requirements and allows assault weapons currently in Maryland to go unregistered. And such weapons could still be purchased as long as buyers could show proof the sale was initiated before the law took effect.

The bill has also sparked resistance, not surprisingly from gun manufacturers like Beretta, which in February threatened to shut down its factory in Accokeek over the measure. But assuming the vote does not go haywire and the Maryland Senate adopts the final version, O’Malley could sign it as soon as Thursday.