What is the penalty for failure to register regulated firearm?

rseymorejr · Jul 8, 2019

If you think you may be caught with an unregistered gun that maybe should have been registered, the best plan of action is to immediately go to Baltimore City, sell a little heroin and shoot one or two competitors.

That's the only real way to avoid any jail time.

Blacksmith101 · Jul 8, 2019

J Beard said:
Also prior to Oct 1996, face to face sale of handguns was still legal with no requirement to register.

Also people who moved to Maryland with handguns prior to Oct.1, 2013 were not required to register them.

Threeband · Jul 8, 2019

Bertfish said:
The way I gather it is this

Registration is voluntary. If you don't volunteer your transfer is denied. But if there is no penalty for failing to register what compels me to go through MSP at all? Well the law says you must. Yes but the law provides no penalty so therefore is toothless.

Shouldve put this in the WC

Not quite.

That "Voluntary Registration" phrase causes a lot of cynical confusion, but it arises from the fact that the Maryland Form 77r is actually used for two distinct purposes.

The first and most common use of the form is to carry out the transfer of the handgun to a new owner, This involves extensive background checks and a seven day waiting period. A record of the transfer of ownership is kept in a database, and thus becomes a sort of registration: the only sort of registration in Maryland. (A few other states have stricter forms of registration.)

A handgun may be legally owned without being in the "registration" database. It could have been bought in a store before 1966. It could have been privately purchased before 1996. It could be a family heirloom or wartime bring-back, pre 1966. It could have been purchased by a collector with a Federal Firearms License (03). It could have been purchased by a resident of another state, who subsequently moved to Maryland. Until 2013, there was no requirement for new residents to register such handguns. There must be many, many legally owned handguns in Maryland which are not "registered", because the law does not require them to be.

But that leads to the second function of the Form 77r, Voluntary Registration. Because the system is only set up to record transfers of ownership, what do you do if you want your handgun to be included in the registry? Sell it to someone, then buy it back from them?

Crazy as it may seem to many privacy-conscious people here, there are people who may want to enter their handguns into the database. They may want the legal status of the gun to be unambiguous. Perhaps they carry the gun with a W&C permit, and want to prevent any confusion should the serial number be checked by law enforcement. (I've heard of Pennsylvania police doing that, and confiscated carry guns not found in the Pennsylvania database.) Or perhaps they are just starry-eyed fools.

For whatever reason, a mechanism was desired to allow people to enter their handguns into the Transfer Database without doing a transfer. Remember, guns are only registered when they change ownership, sort of like vehicle inspections, come to think of it.

To keep it simple, the same Form 77r is used for both purposes: the Transfer of Ownership, which secondarily includes registration, and a voluntary entry into the registration database, which involves no change of ownership.

Those are two separate functions, with the same form used for both.

When you transfer a handgun on a Form 77r, you are not "voluntarily" registering it. That's a different process which doesn't apply to a transfer of ownership.

Bikebreath · Jul 10, 2019

Threeband said:
Not quite.

That "Voluntary Registration" phrase causes a lot of cynical confusion, but it arises from the fact that the Maryland Form 77r is actually used for two distinct purposes.

The first and most common use of the form is to carry out the transfer of the handgun to a new owner, This involves extensive background checks and a seven day waiting period. A record of the transfer of ownership is kept in a database, and thus becomes a sort of registration: the only sort of registration in Maryland. (A few other states have stricter forms of registration.)

A handgun may be legally owned without being in the "registration" database. It could have been bought in a store before 1966. It could have been privately purchased before 1996. It could be a family heirloom or wartime bring-back, pre 1966. It could have been purchased by a collector with a Federal Firearms License (03). It could have been purchased by a resident of another state, who subsequently moved to Maryland. Until 2013, there was no requirement for new residents to register such handguns. There must be many, many legally owned handguns in Maryland which are not "registered", because the law does not require them to be.

But that leads to the second function of the Form 77r, Voluntary Registration. Because the system is only set up to record transfers of ownership, what do you do if you want your handgun to be included in the registry? Sell it to someone, then buy it back from them?

Crazy as it may seem to many privacy-conscious people here, there are people who may want to enter their handguns into the database. They may want the legal status of the gun to be unambiguous. Perhaps they carry the gun with a W&C permit, and want to prevent any confusion should the serial number be checked by law enforcement. (I've heard of Pennsylvania police doing that, and confiscated carry guns not found in the Pennsylvania database.) Or perhaps they are just starry-eyed fools.

For whatever reason, a mechanism was desired to allow people to enter their handguns into the Transfer Database without doing a transfer. Remember, guns are only registered when they change ownership, sort of like vehicle inspections, come to think of it.

To keep it simple, the same Form 77r is used for both purposes: the Transfer of Ownership, which secondarily includes registration, and a voluntary entry into the registration database, which involves no change of ownership.

Those are two separate functions, with the same form used for both.

When you transfer a handgun on a Form 77r, you are not "voluntarily" registering it. That's a different process which doesn't apply to a transfer of ownership.

Wow. Thank you for that info.

Biggfoot44 · Jul 10, 2019

But it's only plausible for people of certain ages , with guns of certain mfg dates, that have not had any other recorded transactions or events in the interviening years .

thimoty · Jul 10, 2019

"Also people who moved to Maryland with handguns prior to Oct.1, 2013 were not required to register them."

This is what I have understood for years and years, but I'm not finding where the Maryland Public Safety Code Title 5 gives that protection. I've read through the law multiple times over the years, and would like to be able to cite the title and subtitle that protects my legal possession of older weapons without registering currently regulated firearms.

Thanks

172pilot · Jul 10, 2019

Sorry for dumb question..

Just for clarification on 2 specific cases, since this whole thing is so convoluted..

1: If every gun someone owns was bought through a legal gun store in MD, there is no law which would have compelled someone to proactively file additional paperwork for existing guns to remain legal..

2: If someone got a gun as a gift, or via a will after death, from a legal out of state family member, would paperwork be required to bring that gun into MD?

This is so un-necessarily confusing!

TIA!

-Steve

Pinecone · Jul 10, 2019

thimoty said:
"Also people who moved to Maryland with handguns prior to Oct.1, 2013 were not required to register them."

This is what I have understood for years and years, but I'm not finding where the Maryland Public Safety Code Title 5 gives that protection. I've read through the law multiple times over the years, and would like to be able to cite the title and subtitle that protects my legal possession of older weapons without registering currently regulated firearms.

Thanks

The law that REQUIRES registration was part of FSA 2013, and only applies to new residents.

There is no law that says that anyone else MUST register anything.

Any handgun, sold by a dealer in MD, after 1966 is registered. But that was "voluntary."

Threeband · Jul 10, 2019

That so-called "registration" of the gun sold by the dealer was just a part of the transfer.

Voluntary registration occurs when no transfer of ownership occurs. It's a different bureaucratic process.

The same form is used for two different situations: First and most common, for a transfer of ownership, such as a purchase. Since the record of the sale goes into the database, it is a sort of back-handed "registration."

The second situation is the Voluntary Registration, which I suspect is not too common. That's where someone already owns the gun, and while there is no legal requirement for them to "register" it, the owner decides they want the Imprimatur of Legality to "legitimize" their possession of the gun.

Biggfoot44 · Jul 10, 2019

Back @ post #27 :

1. No
2. Yes ( Presuming this occured after 1968 )

md_rick_o · Jul 10, 2019

thimoty said:
"Also people who moved to Maryland with handguns prior to Oct.1, 2013 were not required to register them."

This is what I have understood for years and years, but I'm not finding where the Maryland Public Safety Code Title 5 gives that protection. I've read through the law multiple times over the years, and would like to be able to cite the title and subtitle that protects my legal possession of older weapons without registering currently regulated firearms.

Thanks

Something to keep in mind is that in general laws only cover what is illegal. If it is not illegal then it is legal. So you won't find a cite saying you are legally allowed to do something.

BW460 · Jul 11, 2019

When someone moves here (post 2013), does it make any difference, in terms of whether a handgun has to be registered, if the gun is over 50 years old (C&R) ?

Biggfoot44 · Jul 11, 2019

Congratulations ! As far as I recall, that's the first time for that exact question .

But I'm inclined to say it wouldn't matter in the context of establishing residency , but I'd love to be proved wrong .

rbird7282 · Jul 11, 2019

Stoveman said:
According to this source 10 years in the pokey. And also says that it's a federal offense as well.

https://www.maronicklaw.com/blog/2017/august/what-are-the-penalties-in-maryland-for-possessio/

That appears to be all NFA stuff. I saw that article as well. It’s perfectly legs to have an unregistered firearm in md, 80% pistol frames come to mind. Perfectly legal under MD state law and Fed law.
If the OP is taking about not registering when you move into the state, that should be listed in FSA2013

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

rbird7282 · Jul 11, 2019

Stoveman said:
Perhaps this is the answer:

https://law.justia.com/codes/maryland/2016/public-safety/title-5/subtitle-1/section-5-144/

There you go.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

lazarus · Jul 11, 2019

BW460 said:
When someone moves here (post 2013), does it make any difference, in terms of whether a handgun has to be registered, if the gun is over 50 years old (C&R) ?

https://mdsp.maryland.gov/Document Downloads/2014RegulatedFirearms.pdf

See 1) is a handgun

No further reading of the bulletin required. If it’s not an antique or muzzleloading pistol, it must be registered. Doesn’t matter if it is C&R or you have an FFL-03. Currently C&R handguns must be registered when transferred via the 77r when done within Maryland. You just aren’t required to have an HQL when it happens. If the transfer occurs interstate MD isn’t requiring you to register it if you have an FFL-03.

So if you move in to Maryland, you just register your whole C&R handgun collection. Once you are a MD resident you can buy as many C&R handguns out of state as you want and no registration.

Back to the OP, the way you worded it, if you transfer a regulated firearm without going through MSP or an FFL on a 77r (which results in it being registered), it is punishable by up to 5 years in prison. If you happen to own it by otherwise legal means, no registration required (an MG must be registered with MSP, but that’s different from a regulated firearm).

clarencehenherder · Oct 15, 2022

What is the penalty for a new Maryland resident NOT registering a handgun?

linkstate · Oct 15, 2022

Pretty sure it’s the only offense that still allows for the death penalty in Marylandstan.

dblas · Oct 15, 2022

clarencehenherder said:
What is the penalty for a new Maryland resident NOT registering a handgun?

Link already posted in post 35

Chat-Bot · Oct 16, 2022

What is the penalty for failure to register regulated firearm?

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