Firearms Ownership Verification for Banned Firearms

[rmiddle]

Firearms Ownership Verification for Banned Firearms
What with the ban and all going into effect on the 1st of October and the requirement that any banned firearm must be in the state at that time or be forever banished from the State, I believe that I can assist those Maryland firearms owners who have soon-to-be-banned firearms that were not purchased under Maryland's regulatory scheme (i.e., Maryland has no record of your ownership).

I am offering any concerned owner the opportunity to have me prepare an affidavit (an official, sworn statement recognized in Courts of law) attesting to said owner's possession of said soon-to-be-banned firearm in the State of Maryland prior to October 1st. The affidavit will contain a technical description of the firearm and a picture of owner holding said firearm. I am willing to offer this service for really really cheap but I haven't decided on a price.

Is anyone interested in this service and how much do you think is a fair price for the preparation and notarization of said affidavit?

One suggestion is to offer to keep a copy in your records. That way if someone losses there paperwork you will have a copy.

As for the cost I would guess you would have a form setup you are inserting a few numbers in that will likely be done by a paralegal and you will take like 5 min just to review the paper work and sign off and notarize one or 2 copies. Maybe a digital photo and it's printing cost. I would guess $50 with another $10 per additional gun is a fair prices.

Thanks
Robert

 

[ch33zzrat]

How about just take a picture of every one of your restricted firearms with a close up serial number with a smart phone while in Maryland before Oct 1? The meta tag of each picture should provide proof of ownership since the meta tag contains GPS location of picture taken as well as time and date. These picture can be viewed and verified using any meta tag view like exif.

Should hold up in court easily to prove you owned said firearm before Oct 1 in Maryland or to prove that such a firearm has been relocated outside of Maryland.

see: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/exif-viewer/

 

[Lex Armarum]

Given Lawyer56s concerns noted above, please allow me to clarify some vagaries of my original post/idea:

• You must have legally purchased and possessed said firearm prior to October 1. An affidavit will not absolve you of any illegality in the procurement of said firearm; in fact, if you illegally procured said firearm, an affidavit of this type will attest to your criminal act.

• An affidavit is a legally recognized document that is generally admissible in court. Of course, every instance is fact specific and I cannot guarantee that all judges will admit this affidavit into evidence.

• An affidavit will not prevent the police from shooting you, arresting you, beating you, ass-raping you, or harassing you. However, it will provide you a legally recognized means of asserting your ownership of a banned item, in the State of Maryland, prior to October 1, 2013.

 

[foxtrapper]

I have the sales receipts for my 2 nonregulated rifles ( but one will be banned for sale in MD oct 1 due to overall length, the other is of the HBAR debacle). I plan to make copies- and actually thinking of putting the orginals in a safe deposit box!

 

[paperwork351]

I would be interested. Would emailing the information be sufficient?

 

[Jim12]

The burden is still on law enforcement to prove that the firearms were bought after October 1, 2013.

With that said, it is always better to have something than nothing. Me, I am taking pics of everything that I own in front of my kids. Their ages will show approximately when everything was in my possession. On top of that, I have made pdf scans of all the paperwork and I have paper copies of all the paperwork in a safety deposit box. Not only that, but I keep backup hard drives in the safety deposit box too.

My motto in life and my advice to clients is an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Better to be safe than sorry. However, some like to live on the wild side.

It used to be that if you wanted to prove the date of something, you'd take a pic of it with that day's front page of a major newspaper next to it. But, then, God invented Photoshop, and messed that up.

Another way, to mail yourself a copy of a document, leave the sealed envelope in your files, and let the postmark prove the date of origin if and when it ever became necessary. That used to be the poor man's proof of copyright date. Of course, there are all sorts of ways to clandestinely open and re-seal an envelope, or even insert a tool to roll up, remove, and reinsert its contents, even if the original idea stood up in court.

Getting to be too James Bond-like to my liking. And, frankly, unless you're a real bad ass that the gov't wants to get, are they really going to challenge your prima facie evidence? If so, we might have reached a point where much bigger problems need to be addressed.

 

[kmittleman]

I have no banned rifles but does it make sense to take pics of pistols w/ hi cap mags?

 

[Gbh]

Another avenue might be to take your firearm(s) in question to a dealer for an appraisal.

You could have pictures, specific information on the firearm(s) as well as a $ value on the dated appraisal. The $ value may be good for insurance or other purposes. Finding a dealer with the time to do it might be a problem. I know my dealer would find the time for me if I needed it done now.

Whether an appraisal or what Rusty is offering, I think the point here is to have an independent party involved with documenting your ownership of the firearm(s).

 

[Huckleberry]

What about any homeowners or firearms insurance inventory of your weapons?

Usually you have pictures and some type of log or documentation?

What happens after Oct 1 if you have an insurance claim of a rifle that has been banned?

Cash only since replacement will not be an option but how will FMV be determined if their is no longer a Fair Market in Maryland? Value as determined by FBB or Online Auctions?

 

[-Z/28-]

I have no banned rifles but does it make sense to take pics of pistols w/ hi cap mags?

Nope since the mags aren't banned. Only the sale/manufacture of mags is banned. You can still possess mags over 10rds and buy them out of state.

 

[Lex Armarum]

What about any homeowners or firearms insurance inventory of your weapons?

Usually you have pictures and some type of log or documentation?

What happens after Oct 1 if you have an insurance claim of a rifle that has been banned?

Cash only since replacement will not be an option but how will FMV be determined if their is no longer a Fair Market in Maryland? Value as determined by FBB or Online Auctions?

Lets stay on topic. That said, your first and second questions are on point.

 

[Lex Armarum]

FWIW, I've decided on a price for the affidavit I am offering. All other discussions about this matter will have to occur one-on-one, outside of this thread, and preferably off this forum (confidentiality reasons). E-mail me.

 

[Blacksmith101]

As a senior citizen on social security with the rising "nonexistent" inflation it might be nice but not at this time. Of course if they can prove it was bought after the cut off then I'll get three hots and a cot and free medical care and any sentence will probably be life at my age. I am curious how much you had in mind?

I might suggest you might consider several "mass affidavit" rallies where you and maybe other lawyers set up a tent and have a production line set up to handle the production of affidavits. These could be held in different parts of the State. Would be good exposure to the public and advertising for the lawyers.

Take the money
Get basic info
Input data
Merge with e-picture
Print
Review and sign
Notarize

Throughput would be pretty high with separate people doing different tasks. Possibly get corporate or organization sponsors and even volunteers to do some of the work to keep the cost reasonable.

 

[Luigi]

I lost all of my receipts in a tragic boating accident.

 

[pilotguy299]

Rusty,

Thank you for offering that service. I am sure it will help people to sleep better.

I have a suggestion, if you don't mind. Maybe categories of items owned should be on separate affidavits. Like guns purchased before moving to maryland should have one separate from those bought in maryland.

No need to provide more information than needed all at once.

Just a thought...

 

[vector03]

Would this service include your testimony in court if it ever came down to that?

 

[Broadside]

Firearms Ownership Verification for Banned Firearms
What with the ban and all going into effect on the 1st of October and the requirement that any banned firearm must be in the state at that time or be forever banished from the State...

I'm sorry. I was under the impression that SB281 did not differentiate between Maryland residents, non-residents and future residents in regards to grandfathering "assault long-arms". I thought that if you owned it (or had a valid order to purchase) before 10/1/13, then it was grandfathered in and you could legally possess it in the State of Maryland, regardless of your state of residence.

Further, if you moved into the State after 10/1/13, you could register it so long as you owned it before 10/1/13.

Is my understanding of the law not correct?

 

[iH8DemLibz]

I lost all of my receipts in a tragic boating accident.

Not exactly this, but who really keeps those old 77r's. They fade to non-readable in a years time. Hell, 90 percent of them are not readable the day you buy the gun.

The last time we saw antics/tactics like this was in the 1930's.

I second what the previous poster said. We have much bigger problems at hand.

I like the idea, but it bothers me that we are at that point in this country.

 

[Lex Armarum]

Would this service include your testimony in court if it ever came down to that?

No.

 

[rseymorejr]

You can just do voluntary registration for free and then there will be no question as to ownership. If you already own registered firearms purchased in the state, it wouldn't be a big deal to register more of the soon to be banned variety. If you don't already have any on the books in MD and don't want to, this would be a good option.

Alternatively, you can just take some pics with the firearm serial number visible while laying on top of the front page of any major newspaper. Write your name on the newspaper too and sign it. While it's not a legal document, it should go a long way. Be sure the time and date is set properly on your camera.

THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE

That would only prove you had the gun after the date on the newspaper, not before October 1st.