...
The curious part of the letter is where they suggest you put a heavy barrel on your Bushmaster. I didn't think you could do that and be legal in Md, but I'm not a lawyer.
msp be like... banned
I wonder what the MSP would do if someone tried to bring in and register a pre oct 13 lightweight 80% build.
That's what caught my attention, because the extra-legal ban on products with a particular brand name, which only began about 2014, is something I have ranted at length about. https://www.mdshooters.com/showpost.php?p=5287840&postcount=11
The new e mail is actually correct, because Bushmaster BRAND AR 15 HBARs were never regulated, and there is no legal reason for them to be banned, as the MSP has historically known.
If you have a light barreled AR 15 you bought in 2015 in another state, you should be able to slap an HBAR on it and bring it to your new Maryland home without "registering" it at all. Daniel Defense, DPMS, or Bushmaster - the brand name makes no difference. The "Bushmaster" on the old List is an entirely different rifle. MSP knows that perfectly well.
The problem is, the MSP is Institutionally Incoherent on everything relating to firearms law and regulation. Individual troopers frequently declare things they rightly or wrongly believe to be the law.
Since private sales are legal in many states and no record is required, and lets not forget people can inherit as well, the law is stupid. It needs to be removed or revamped at a minimum. Is there any other circumstances that you could receive a long arm legally? Can a family member give a long arm to a relative?
But if you go to the Firearms Search, everything made by Bushmaster is a no go "enumerated in statute"
...
Firearms were produced with the Gwinn name from 1972-1974 according to some sources on the web.
Here is what I found from another site:
The Gwinn Arms Company of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, were in business from 1972 -1974 before Gwinn went bankrupt, and Quality Parts (reformed as Bushmaster ) bought them out. Mark Gwinn was the inventor of the original bushmaster rifle.
https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/-/2-222400/?page=1
And the burden of proof is on the state, not on you. Let them find the dammed date of purchase...
In essence Bushmaster did file a suit. It was captioned kolbe v omalley and it lost in the dist ct, won forst round in the ct of appeals and lost en banc. The supreme ct refused to hear it.BUT....who has deep enough pockets...or the time and energy... to defend themselves should charges be brought. And even if you ultimately win, suppose some OWEMalley appointed judge initially decides you are guilty? The state can and will take all your firearms. And it doesn't even matter if the sentence ended up probation. The potential sentence will certainly be more than 2 years. So, when when you prevail (presuming you ultimately do) your firearms will be in purgatory and not properly cared for in years plus you will still have to jump through hoops to get them back.
Frankly Bushmaster should have filed a lawsuit right after this law passed. Tgere sgould be no reason why they can't priduce a replica of a Colt HBAR or other Md legal AR just as other compnues do. Seems to me to deny them on the basis of manufacturer name only violates the comerce privision if our Constitution.
For that matter, for most intents an purposes, a Windham HBAR is a Bushmaster HBAR...all except for the manufacturer name.
That is my point. That is WRONG.That ban is not legal. There is no legal basis for it. The Maryland State Police knows that perfectly well.
That "Firearms Search" on the MSP website is full of mistakes, and this is one of them.
I have already posted this a dozen times. I wish you would read my links .
Okay.
The BUSHMASTER RIFLE enumerated in statute in 1988 is this thing:
There was also a later bullpup pistol version:
These things were made in limited quantities way back in the 1970s and 1980s, which when the List of Banned Weapons was also produced, (which you would know if you would bother to read any of my many, many earlier posts).
From ARFCOM:
The Maryland State Police has always known that the BUSHMASTER RIFLE on the Regulated Firearms list is NOT a brand name for an AR!%.
The Maryland State Police has always known that the BUSHMASTER is an obscure rifle which has been out of production for decades.
HBAR AR 15s made by Bushmaster Arms Company, that is a FREAKING BRAND NAME NOT A MODEL OF A RIFLE are NOT REGULATED.
Bushmaster BRAND HBARS were always sold as unregulated, with no waiting period and no registration.
Bushmaster BRAND HBARS were always sold as unregulated, with no waiting period and no registration.
Get that?
That's because the MSP always understood that the Enumerated Firearm on that stupid List from 1988 is a crazy oddball that hasn't even been made in decades.
That's because the MSP always understood that the Bushmaster Brand was something totally different.
For years and years and years and years and years
you could walk into any gun store in Maryland, buy a Bushmaster BRAND AR 15 HBAR and walk out the door with it 20 minutes later. No waiting period. No Form 77r. No registration. Just a Federal Form 4473, and after 2007, a Federal Instant Background Check, and out the door you go with your new rifle, just like buying a single shot .22.
Do you understand that?
Maryland ALWAYS understood that.
There must be THOUSANDS of Bushmaster Ar !5 HBARs in Maryland which were sold cash and carry that way.
Then suddenly, after 2013, they suddenly started acting as if Bushmaster Brand AR 15 HBARS were banned.
That is WRONG.
Individual troopers might not know that. The fools who edit their online "is this rifle legal" list don't know that.
But as an Institution, the Maryland State Police has ALWAYS known the difference between the Gwinn Firearms "Bushmaster" and the Bushmaster BRAND Ar 15.
Until suddenly, in 2014, they started pretending they didn't.
Now I have repeated this same stupid rant a dozen times. PLEASE just READ MY DAMN LINKS SO I DON'T HAVE TO REPEAT THIS AGAIN.
https://www.mdshooters.com/showpost.php?p=2563899&postcount=18
https://www.mdshooters.com/search.php?searchid=31441964
https://www.mdshooters.com/search.php?searchid=31441964
https://www.mdshooters.com/search.php?searchid=31441964
That is my point. That is WRONG.That ban is not legal. There is no legal basis for it. The Maryland State Police knows that perfectly well.
That "Firearms Search" on the MSP website is full of mistakes, and this is one of them.
I have already posted this a dozen times. I wish you would read my links .
Okay.
The BUSHMASTER RIFLE enumerated in statute in 1988 is this thing:
There was also a later bullpup pistol version:
These things were made in limited quantities way back in the 1970s and 1980s, which when the List of Banned Weapons was also produced, (which you would know if you would bother to read any of my many, many earlier posts).
From ARFCOM:
The Maryland State Police has always known that the BUSHMASTER RIFLE on the Regulated Firearms list is NOT a brand name for an AR!%.
The Maryland State Police has always known that the BUSHMASTER is an obscure rifle which has been out of production for decades.
HBAR AR 15s made by Bushmaster Arms Company, that is a FREAKING BRAND NAME NOT A MODEL OF A RIFLE are NOT REGULATED.
Bushmaster BRAND HBARS were always sold as unregulated, with no waiting period and no registration.
Bushmaster BRAND HBARS were always sold as unregulated, with no waiting period and no registration.
Get that?
That's because the MSP always understood that the Enumerated Firearm on that stupid List from 1988 is a crazy oddball that hasn't even been made in decades.
That's because the MSP always understood that the Bushmaster Brand was something totally different.
For years and years and years and years and years
you could walk into any gun store in Maryland, buy a Bushmaster BRAND AR 15 HBAR and walk out the door with it 20 minutes later. No waiting period. No Form 77r. No registration. Just a Federal Form 4473, and after 2007, a Federal Instant Background Check, and out the door you go with your new rifle, just like buying a single shot .22.
Do you understand that?
Maryland ALWAYS understood that.
There must be THOUSANDS of Bushmaster Ar !5 HBARs in Maryland which were sold cash and carry that way.
Then suddenly, after 2013, they suddenly started acting as if Bushmaster Brand AR 15 HBARS were banned.
That is WRONG.
Individual troopers might not know that. The fools who edit their online "is this rifle legal" list don't know that.
But as an Institution, the Maryland State Police has ALWAYS known the difference between the Gwinn Firearms "Bushmaster" and the Bushmaster BRAND Ar 15.
Until suddenly, in 2014, they started pretending they didn't.
Now I have repeated this same stupid rant a dozen times. PLEASE just READ MY DAMN LINKS SO I DON'T HAVE TO REPEAT THIS AGAIN.
https://www.mdshooters.com/showpost.php?p=2563899&postcount=18
https://www.mdshooters.com/search.php?searchid=31441964
https://www.mdshooters.com/search.php?searchid=31441964
https://www.mdshooters.com/search.php?searchid=31441964
I've read your rants and links...a few times (the last three listed didn't work...but I think I remember the gist). You're absolutely correct; the law is wrong...so what What can we do? Obivously you are passionate about this, to the point of sounding angry (at us? ) but what's your endgame? I don't think ranting on here is going to make MSP understand, admit and correct their mistake.
If the government can't get something as simple as, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," how on earth can you expect them to get that an AR-type semi automatic rifle manufactured by a company called Bushmaster is not a "Bushmaster semi-auto rifle," as enumerated in the statute? Personally, I think in light of 2A, all of the infringement of FSA 2013 is not legal...but I'm not going to go try to buy an AK any time soon.
There is always going to be confusion on here about that, just like there will always be questions like, "What makes it an Hbar?," "Why won't my dealer sell me an MIA?" "HQ-whatsitcalled?" and "Sooo...can I buy hi-cap mags out of state" (and, they will always have to be corrected about hi-cap vs. standard capacity every time as well).
By all means share your insights until you are sick of it, but please be nice to the noobs (and the rest of us, who've heard it before and feel like we are being scolded despite agreeing with you).
I've read your rants and links...a few times (the last three listed didn't work...but I think I remember the gist). You're absolutely correct; the law is wrong...so what What can we do? Obivously you are passionate about this, to the point of sounding angry (at us? ) but what's your endgame? I don't think ranting on here is going to make MSP understand, admit and correct their mistake.
<snip>
Everything about Maryland is stupid!
If its fun, its illegal. Why did you move to Maryland? Most people are trying to leave.