Holstering Loaded Handgun on Range?

Hi, all.

I've got what feels to me like a bit of a silly question, but it's been bugging me:

MD Code 4-203(b)(4) appears to allow wearing/carrying handguns during shooting activities only so long as the worn/carried handguns are unloaded. Given this, how does one wear a loaded handgun legally during, say, an IDPA match within MD? (or am I just missing something else entirely?)

My previous searches have turned up only one thread addressing this question (https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=4718), and it's over 9 years old now, so I'm hoping maybe someone can point me toward more recent or more certain resources.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

IDPA matches are usually held on private property. Many members here participate in them regularly.

Head over to the Introductions section and do yourself a proper.

Stoveman said:

IDPA matches are usually held on private property. Many members here participate in them regularly.

Head over to the Introductions section and do yourself a proper.

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Thanks for the quick reply!

Does being on private property have an impact on the wear/carry prohibition? I was under the impression it did not (e.g. https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=134252).

Also, I'm not sure why this is showing up as my first post...though admittedly my introduction thread was a long while ago (https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=173638). Took me a while to start asking dumb questions, I guess

Etervigila said:

Thanks for the quick reply!

Does being on private property have an impact on the wear/carry prohibition? I was under the impression it did not (e.g. https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=134252).

Also, I'm not sure why this is showing up as my first post...though admittedly my introduction thread was a long while ago (https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=173638). Took me a while to start asking dumb questions, I guess

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Hi. As Stoveman mentioned lots of us participate in shooting sports like IDPA. Most ranges are what is called a 'cold range', meaning guns are only loaded prior to shooting them. In the case of an IDPA match for instance, competitors only load while on the starting line, immediately prior to beginning a stage (short course of fire), and only under the supervision of a Range Safety Officer (RSO). It's all very orderly and exceptionally safe.

There are many many threads about Maryland gun laws, and I'm not a lawyer. If I understand your question correctly, simply transport the firearm legally (unloaded in Maryland, etc), then when you arrive at the training or shooting event, keep your firearm unloaded until you receive guidance from an RSO. Best to attend shooting events with a friend the first time. Also good idea to attend first without any firearms and just spectate.

At the top of each thread there are 'sticky' posts. These usually have the best info on each sub thread. Enjoy!

You can legally carry a loaded gun in your house and on your property, openly or concealed.

Thanks for the info. I get that people do this all the time and it's safe and totally fine. I'm just trying to understand that within the context of the text of 4-203, because that text seems to indicate that it's not ok, and I can't find anything in writing to indicate that's not the case, which strikes me as kinda weird.

I've searched and searched, both Google and the forum, to limited avail. Again, the only result so far on the particular question of the legality of wearing at the range is the thread from 2008 linked in the OP, and the conclusion reached there was "well, the law isn't consistent with itself so it can't be taken at face value," which is fine as far as it goes but I was hoping in the interim something more solid (e.g. an AG opinion, MSP guidance memo, court case, something) would have come about. Again my searches haven't been fruitful but maybe someone else has something?

Either way thanks again for the replies!

Etervigila said:

Hi, all.

I've got what feels to me like a bit of a silly question, but it's been bugging me:

MD Code 4-203(b)(4) appears to allow wearing/carrying handguns during shooting activities only so long as the worn/carried handguns are unloaded. Given this, how does one wear a loaded handgun legally during, say, an IDPA match within MD? (or am I just missing something else entirely?)

My previous searches have turned up only one thread addressing this question (https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=4718), and it's over 9 years old now, so I'm hoping maybe someone can point me toward more recent or more certain resources.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

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WRONG.....

4-203 applies to TRANSPORT to and from shooting activities, it DOES NOT apply to shooting activities. Therein lies your misunderstanding.

dblas said:

WRONG.....

4-203 applies to TRANSPORT to and from shooting activities, it DOES NOT apply to shooting activities. Therein lies your misunderstanding.

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Correct. At the shooting activity, if the location allows it, you can have it loaded and holstered if you want. Out hunting with a pistol, you can absolutely carry it loaded and holstered. At a shooting event, loaded holstered pistol is just fine...of course if the range allows it.

Can you point me to a source for that interpretation?
Because the relevant text from the statute reads as follows:

§4–203.
(a) (1) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, a person may not:
(i) wear, carry, or transport a handgun, whether concealed or open, on or about the person;
...

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[in other words, there is a broad prohibition on the wearing of handguns in Maryland, except in the limited circumstances spelled out in subsection b, of which the relevant portion reads:]

(b) This section does not prohibit:
...
(4) the wearing, carrying, or transporting by a person of a handgun used in connection with an organized military activity, a target shoot, formal or informal target practice, sport shooting event, hunting, a Department of Natural Resources–sponsored firearms and hunter safety class, trapping, or a dog obedience training class or show, while the person is engaged in, on the way to, or returning from that activity if each handgun is unloaded and carried in an enclosed case or an enclosed holster;

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Taking this text at face value (and absent some other indication to the contrary), should not all the conditions specified apply whether the person is engaged in the activity or is traveling to/from the activity? That's certainly how the text reads. Is there anything that contradicts such a reading (e.g. a clarified definition of "wear")?

Etervigila said:

Can you point me to a source for that interpretation?
Because the relevant text from the statute reads as follows:

[in other words, there is a broad prohibition on the wearing of handguns in Maryland, except in the limited circumstances spelled out in subsection b, of which the relevant portion reads:]


Taking this text at face value (and absent some other indication to the contrary), should not all the conditions specified apply whether the person is engaged in the activity or is traveling to/from the activity? That's certainly how the text reads. Is there anything that contradicts such a reading (e.g. a clarified definition of "wear")?

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Ever stepped in Fr*sh?

Taking this text at face value (and absent some other indication to the contrary), should not all the conditions specified apply whether the person is engaged in the activity or is traveling to/from the activity? That's certainly how the text reads. Is there anything that contradicts such a reading (e.g. a clarified definition of "wear")?

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No. The unloaded/encased part only applies to traveling with the weapon. How could you be engaged in a target shoot with an unloaded, cased handgun

"While engaged in " is one phrase. "While traveling to , or returning from IF .. Unloaded ..Encased.. Etc " is a seperate phrase.

The particular Range venues may well have their own internal rules about when loaded or not, but 4-203 allows being loaded the whole time during the listed activity .

Biggfoot44 said:

"While engaged in " is one phrase. "While traveling to , or returning from IF .. Unloaded ..Encased.. Etc " is a seperate phrase.

The particular Range venues may well have their own internal rules about when loaded or not, but 4-203 allows being loaded the whole time during the listed activity .

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Exactly.

The BGOS is strong in this thread.....

I like hot ranges. It's safer to just have the gun loaded and toss it in a holster than to constantly be dicking with loading and unloading it. I also feel that it breeds complacency when people feel guns are unloaded and "safe". If we're treating all guns as loaded, they may as well be loaded.

Likewise Hot has it advantages over Cold, but outside of some LE oriented training, most Clubs and public ranges have their posted rules otherwise.

WildBill said:

No. The unloaded/encased part only applies to traveling with the weapon. How could you be engaged in a target shoot with an unloaded, cased handgun

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One would presumably not be wearing, carrying (though this one is arguable), or transporting a handgun while also shooting it.

Biggfoot44 said:

"While engaged in " is one phrase. "While traveling to , or returning from IF .. Unloaded ..Encased.. Etc " is a seperate phrase.

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This is not grammatically correct. There is nothing in the structure of the sentence to suggest such a decoupling. Take, for example, the sentence "I will go shooting with Tom, Dick, and Harry if the range is open." It would not be correct to read this statement as meaning that I will go shooting with Tom, but Dick and Harry will only come along if the range is open.

Admittedly, the interpretation you suggest certainly appears to be the accepted interpretation, but it is more than a little distressing that there is no grammatical basis for it, nor anything in writing anywhere to indicate that this interpretation is favored by the State. And I think confusion surrounding it should not be surprising, given the inconsistencies surrounding the remainder of section 4-203. Take, for example, that people will swear up and down (and be technically correct, btw) that you have to go straight to the range and back home with no stops, or that you should exercise caution driving to Virginia to carry with your VA carry permit (unless your immediate destination in VA is one of the excepted destinations under 4-203 subsection b) because MD probably won't recognize your home as a "place" you can possess and carry under FOPA, but then folk will also say that of course you can check a handgun on a flight out of BWI or drop off a handgun at a UPS center to ship in otherwise lawful interstate commerce (because why wouldn't you be able to, except for the fact that doing so literally requires transporting a handgun to a destination very clearly absent from the excepted list). Accepting that all those behaviors are prohibited by the plain text of the statute but the latter two, like wearing a loaded handgun at the range, are tolerated by the State (which they certainly appear to be), how is a person supposed to parse which prohibitions are serious and which are not when no such distinction is ever formally made?

It's a semi-free country. Feel free to target "shoot" with unloaded handgun on your next range session.

Mark is that you? LOL, Yes, the way the law is worded, it is unlawful to "wear, carry or transport" while target shooting, unless the firearm is unloaded, and encased in a case or closed-top holster. So you can go to the range, but can't take out yor pistol or load it. It is poorly written, not enforced as such, and I don't know of any relevant cases where someone was charged with violating that section while otherwise lawfully target shooting. There are plenty of stupid MD laws, It is unlawful to eat while swimming in the ocean, or swear in Baltimore city limits, and you must obtain a HQL to purchase a handgun. Next range trip or match, could always turn yourself in and work on a definitive answer.

So, next hunting trip, I have to pistol whip bambi with unloaded gun still in the holster ? Better be sure to use leather instead of padded nylon.

Will the DNR regs be moot regarding ammo producing 700ftlb , if the ammo is not allowed to be loaded into the gun ( nor by extention actually fired at game )?