There seems to be a lot of posts from new members unsure of how to sell, acquire or transfer a modern handgun without help from a gun store, or about how to conduct a transfer at the least cost.
The answer, for you new members, is the Maryland State Police barracks transfer, which is FREE when the transfer occurs between eligible family members, or only $10 to do sale/transfer paperwork between other Buyers and Sellers.
I, myself, am doing another MSP barracks transfer again this week, so I have written this fairly comprehensive step-by-step guide. Here goes:
A Maryland modern handgun owner can sell or transfer to another eligible Marylander by completing Maryland Firearm Transfer paperwork at any Maryland State Police barracks. Each barracks has the paperwork needed and will guide people in how to fill them out and the cost is only $10 for unrelated Buyers and Sellers.
Pick a MD State Police barracks--there are 22 of them spread out across the state. It doesn't hurt to call ahead to let them know you are coming. They are supposed to be available to do this 24 hours a day, but service call volume might make one hour better than another. You can also do the sales/transfer paperwork at the Maryland State Police HQ in Pikesville, but you must call the HQ for the particular hours they do it. Here is the list of the barracks:
https://www.mdsp.org/Organization/FieldOperationsBureau/Barracks.aspx
The Seller brings the firearm to the MSP barracks and meets the Buyer in the parking lot. (Before making the trip the Seller will have double-checked to see that the firearm is UNLOADED, so as not to risk an arrest). Using a trunk or cargo area as a table top, the Buyer inspects the firearm for sale, but both of you take care to shield the firearm from the view of any third party, so as not create any alarm. The Seller then returns the firearm to its travel case and LEAVES IT IN THE TRUNK. No money should change hands at this point.
The Buyer and Seller then proceed into the barracks lobby--sometimes by pressing a security buzzer--and approach the sliding glass duty window, again WITHOUT the firearm. The Buyer will have their Handgun Qualification License on hand, plus a $10 US Postal Service money order or personal check made out to the "Maryland State Police". If the Seller offers to pay the $10, no problem, but the MSP does NOT accept cash.
Tell the trooper on duty you wish to conduct a transfer and follow their instructions about paperwork, and about how and when the firearm is handled to verify the model and serial number. There are three scenarios with the firearm:
About a third of the the time a trooper accompanies the Seller outside to inspect the firearm in the trunk of the Seller's vehicle to get the model and serial number, and the firearm is not brought inside. About a third of the time the trooper accompanies the Seller outside and the trooper takes possession of the firearm and brings it inside. Or the trooper on duty will instruct the Seller to retrieve the firearm and bring it--cased up-- into the barracks to hand off to the trooper for inspection.
Be very careful to follow the trooper's exact instructions on firearm handling. REPEAT: their exact instructions.
The Seller and Buyer will be asked for their Driver's Licenses and the Buyer for his or her HQL. Be aware that during the time you are there the MSP will check to see if the firearm rightfully belongs to the Seller and whether either of you have any warrants. The troopers will cuff you up immediately if you do.
Note to Buyers: remember to check the Designated Collector box at the top of the paperwork if you are a DC. Also the first four digits of your HQL number will be the year you received it and these digits ARE PART OF YOUR FULL NUMBER. Your personal info goes in the "TRANSFEREE" section.
Note to Sellers: on the top of the paperwork you will check the "SECONDARY SALE" box and your personal info will go in the "TRANSFEROR" section NOT the "Dealer" section.
The trooper will complete the Firearm Section with make, model , serial number, etc, or in a rare case have you do it but he/she will check it. If the trooper does not tell you, ask the trooper his or her preference on this section.
After signing the bottom left corner of the WHITE top copy, the Buyer (Transferee) and Seller (Transferor) will both walk away with colored copies of the paperwork while the MSP keeps the WHITE original top copy and a few color copies behind it. Again, no money should change hands at this point--except for maybe a small "good faith" deposit--because the Seller must hold the firearm for another 8 days to honor Maryland's "Cooling Off Period". It is important to know that even though transfer paperwork has been completed by both Buyer and Seller at the barracks, the firearm REMAINS THE PROPERTY OF THE SELLER until it is handed over to the Buyer at a second "signing ceremony" as described in the paragraph below.
Generally, it will take a week or two for the Seller to receive the Buyer's approval notice in the mail from the MSP. This mailing will include the ORIGINAL WHITE COPY that you signed and left with the trooper in the barracks. The Seller will then meet the Buyer anyplace that both parties mutually agree to so that both can sign the bottom of this WHITE copy again. This is the time for the Buyer to hand over the cash for the firearm. The Seller signs as the "Transferor" and hands over the handgun the Buyer signs as the "Transferee", with these signatures going on the bottom right corner.
After the Seller and Buyer sign the WHITE top copy, the Seller mails all of the pages--the WHITE and some color pages marked "Forensic Science Division"--back to the MSP by First Class mail. The MSP includes an info sheet with their return address in their mailing.
Caution to the Buyer: DO NOT FLASH THE FIREARM IN THE OPEN when the Seller hands it over. It's best for the Buyer to peek at it in the trunk--in its case--so as not to trigger a SWAT call out.
The Buyer should drive home directly with the firearm, or to the range and then directly home. When traveling with a firearm, be aware you may be followed if a Bad Guy sees what he believes is a firearm or firearms case during the hand-off, so use care. If you think you are being followed make two U-turns quickly. If someone follows you though the second U-turn, call 911 on your cell and report your situation.
God speed.
PS: Some will say Sellers are free to hand-over the firearm after 8 days, even if the paperwork has not been received back yet. For Newbies, I recommend that you wait until the paperwork comes back with the official approval, which will be indicated on the WHITE copy with the non-sensical phrase "Not Disapproved" stamped on the middle of the page in large letters.
ALSO: I have incorporated in this Original Post the many fine suggestions from posts and questions that follow in this thread, which is why some issues and explanations show up twice. I encourage you to print-out this post and take it with you for reference on your first MSP barracks transfer.
On another thread I found this good summation from Threeband on Registration history. Some modern handguns in Maryland have never been registered because handgun owners moving to Maryland before 2013 were not required to register them, or because Marylanders owned them prior to about 1996. However these handguns will become part of the state handgun database now when transferred to family or non-family buyers via handgun registration paperwork:
The answer, for you new members, is the Maryland State Police barracks transfer, which is FREE when the transfer occurs between eligible family members, or only $10 to do sale/transfer paperwork between other Buyers and Sellers.
I, myself, am doing another MSP barracks transfer again this week, so I have written this fairly comprehensive step-by-step guide. Here goes:
A Maryland modern handgun owner can sell or transfer to another eligible Marylander by completing Maryland Firearm Transfer paperwork at any Maryland State Police barracks. Each barracks has the paperwork needed and will guide people in how to fill them out and the cost is only $10 for unrelated Buyers and Sellers.
Pick a MD State Police barracks--there are 22 of them spread out across the state. It doesn't hurt to call ahead to let them know you are coming. They are supposed to be available to do this 24 hours a day, but service call volume might make one hour better than another. You can also do the sales/transfer paperwork at the Maryland State Police HQ in Pikesville, but you must call the HQ for the particular hours they do it. Here is the list of the barracks:
https://www.mdsp.org/Organization/FieldOperationsBureau/Barracks.aspx
The Seller brings the firearm to the MSP barracks and meets the Buyer in the parking lot. (Before making the trip the Seller will have double-checked to see that the firearm is UNLOADED, so as not to risk an arrest). Using a trunk or cargo area as a table top, the Buyer inspects the firearm for sale, but both of you take care to shield the firearm from the view of any third party, so as not create any alarm. The Seller then returns the firearm to its travel case and LEAVES IT IN THE TRUNK. No money should change hands at this point.
The Buyer and Seller then proceed into the barracks lobby--sometimes by pressing a security buzzer--and approach the sliding glass duty window, again WITHOUT the firearm. The Buyer will have their Handgun Qualification License on hand, plus a $10 US Postal Service money order or personal check made out to the "Maryland State Police". If the Seller offers to pay the $10, no problem, but the MSP does NOT accept cash.
Tell the trooper on duty you wish to conduct a transfer and follow their instructions about paperwork, and about how and when the firearm is handled to verify the model and serial number. There are three scenarios with the firearm:
About a third of the the time a trooper accompanies the Seller outside to inspect the firearm in the trunk of the Seller's vehicle to get the model and serial number, and the firearm is not brought inside. About a third of the time the trooper accompanies the Seller outside and the trooper takes possession of the firearm and brings it inside. Or the trooper on duty will instruct the Seller to retrieve the firearm and bring it--cased up-- into the barracks to hand off to the trooper for inspection.
Be very careful to follow the trooper's exact instructions on firearm handling. REPEAT: their exact instructions.
The Seller and Buyer will be asked for their Driver's Licenses and the Buyer for his or her HQL. Be aware that during the time you are there the MSP will check to see if the firearm rightfully belongs to the Seller and whether either of you have any warrants. The troopers will cuff you up immediately if you do.
Note to Buyers: remember to check the Designated Collector box at the top of the paperwork if you are a DC. Also the first four digits of your HQL number will be the year you received it and these digits ARE PART OF YOUR FULL NUMBER. Your personal info goes in the "TRANSFEREE" section.
Note to Sellers: on the top of the paperwork you will check the "SECONDARY SALE" box and your personal info will go in the "TRANSFEROR" section NOT the "Dealer" section.
The trooper will complete the Firearm Section with make, model , serial number, etc, or in a rare case have you do it but he/she will check it. If the trooper does not tell you, ask the trooper his or her preference on this section.
After signing the bottom left corner of the WHITE top copy, the Buyer (Transferee) and Seller (Transferor) will both walk away with colored copies of the paperwork while the MSP keeps the WHITE original top copy and a few color copies behind it. Again, no money should change hands at this point--except for maybe a small "good faith" deposit--because the Seller must hold the firearm for another 8 days to honor Maryland's "Cooling Off Period". It is important to know that even though transfer paperwork has been completed by both Buyer and Seller at the barracks, the firearm REMAINS THE PROPERTY OF THE SELLER until it is handed over to the Buyer at a second "signing ceremony" as described in the paragraph below.
Generally, it will take a week or two for the Seller to receive the Buyer's approval notice in the mail from the MSP. This mailing will include the ORIGINAL WHITE COPY that you signed and left with the trooper in the barracks. The Seller will then meet the Buyer anyplace that both parties mutually agree to so that both can sign the bottom of this WHITE copy again. This is the time for the Buyer to hand over the cash for the firearm. The Seller signs as the "Transferor" and hands over the handgun the Buyer signs as the "Transferee", with these signatures going on the bottom right corner.
After the Seller and Buyer sign the WHITE top copy, the Seller mails all of the pages--the WHITE and some color pages marked "Forensic Science Division"--back to the MSP by First Class mail. The MSP includes an info sheet with their return address in their mailing.
Caution to the Buyer: DO NOT FLASH THE FIREARM IN THE OPEN when the Seller hands it over. It's best for the Buyer to peek at it in the trunk--in its case--so as not to trigger a SWAT call out.
The Buyer should drive home directly with the firearm, or to the range and then directly home. When traveling with a firearm, be aware you may be followed if a Bad Guy sees what he believes is a firearm or firearms case during the hand-off, so use care. If you think you are being followed make two U-turns quickly. If someone follows you though the second U-turn, call 911 on your cell and report your situation.
God speed.
PS: Some will say Sellers are free to hand-over the firearm after 8 days, even if the paperwork has not been received back yet. For Newbies, I recommend that you wait until the paperwork comes back with the official approval, which will be indicated on the WHITE copy with the non-sensical phrase "Not Disapproved" stamped on the middle of the page in large letters.
ALSO: I have incorporated in this Original Post the many fine suggestions from posts and questions that follow in this thread, which is why some issues and explanations show up twice. I encourage you to print-out this post and take it with you for reference on your first MSP barracks transfer.
On another thread I found this good summation from Threeband on Registration history. Some modern handguns in Maryland have never been registered because handgun owners moving to Maryland before 2013 were not required to register them, or because Marylanders owned them prior to about 1996. However these handguns will become part of the state handgun database now when transferred to family or non-family buyers via handgun registration paperwork:
To this day, Maryland does not have "mandatory registration".
Many people believe handguns must be "registered" to be legal, but I think that's only true in Illinois and New York. Perhaps other states, but not Maryland.
It is perfectly legal to possess a handgun which is not "registered".
There has never been a requirement that Marylanders "register" their handguns.
For years, Maryland has been building a database of transfers, but that is not quite the same thing as the sort of true registration you're thinking of.
I believe they started keeping records of dealer transfers back in the '60s, and gradually over the years, the database has grown to include more and more handguns.
But there was never a requirement that Marylanders "register" handguns they already owned before the database was begun. Those guns are still legal.
Until 1996 private face to face handgun sales were legal, and those were not "registered" in the database. There has never been a retroactive requirement to enter those pre 1996 transfers into the database.
Until 2013, people moving here from other states were not required to "register" their handguns. There is no retroactive requirement to enter pre-2013 imports into the database.
FFL holders may still import handguns without entering them in the database.
So there are a LOT of perfectly legal handguns which are owned by Marylanders which are not in the database of transfers.
That's because the database only records transfers, not possession (except for post-10/1/13 new residents).
The MSP knows this, and they will not raise an eyebrow over a 1984 gun that's not in their database yet. They will run a trace of the serial number to see if it's stolen, and they will check you for warrants, but no one will be arrested for "possessing an unregistered handgun", because there is no such crime.
And of course, once you do the transfer, the gun will be in the database.
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