Email from the MD State Police

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  • 98Volvo

    Member
    Apr 18, 2018
    12
    I moved to MD last month and registered my banned rifles that I owned prior to 10/1/13 on the State Police web site. Got the below email back this morning.

    "After researching the guns that you listed on your New Resident application it has been determined that the Bushmaster XM15-e2s; LMT Defender 2000 and Colt LE6920 Socom are banned in Maryland. In view of this information, we cannot register these guns under your name in Maryland unless you can provide us with documentation that you purchased these guns prior to 10/1/2013. If you cannot provide us with documentation than we must advise you that you cannot legally have this gun in Maryland unless you change it over to a heavy barrel."

    Is this standard? I thought the onus was on them? I thought I didn't need to provide proof. I have receipts so no big deal. The date on one is hard to read though. You can make out the month and year but the day illegible. Hope I don't need to get that one re-barrelled. And why would I register something that wasn't banned.
     

    Ranchero50

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 15, 2012
    5,411
    Hagerstown MD
    What D/A said. MSP is notorious for making up the rules as they go and not following the rule of law. Supposedly it's up to them to prove that you bought the firearm after 10/13, not for you to prove it age.
     

    mumfrey

    Active Member
    Nov 16, 2017
    662
    Northern Balt Co
    First off, welcome to MD, we need WAY more people like you here. Secondly, very sorry for you that you moved here....this pisses me off....Good luck.
     

    98Volvo

    Member
    Apr 18, 2018
    12
    Are they saying the Bushmaster would be okay if you put a heavy barrel on it?

    That is how I read it. Interesting. That is the rifle with the mostly legible date on the receipt. So if they don't accept my receipt and if the gun shop I bought it from can't help me out with other documentation I will go the heavy barrel route. I just wonder how I prove to them that I put a heavy barrel on it. Also if I put a heavy barrel on it and it becomes legal, does that mean I can never separate the upper and lower again? I.E. does it become banned again with the upper removed.
     

    JPG

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 5, 2012
    6,996
    Calvert County
    Got to love the law.... Welcome to MD got guns? We're going to arrest you if you don't sell them out of State. :sad20:

    Question for the gallery. If OP put "heavy barrels" on would he have to take to MSP or would they come by to make sure they are locked up correctly?
     

    rseymorejr

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 28, 2011
    26,003
    Harford County
    Got to love the law.... Welcome to MD got guns? We're going to arrest you if you don't sell them out of State. :sad20:

    Question for the gallery. If OP put "heavy barrels" on would he have to take to MSP or would they come by to make sure they are locked up correctly?
    With the crime rate so low I would think they'd have plenty of time to come by and put calipers on the barrel to make sure they are heavy.:innocent0
     

    danb

    dont be a dumbass
    Feb 24, 2013
    22,704
    google is your friend, I am not.
    Welcome to MD.

    You have the right to remain silent, anything you can can be used against you.

    On the plus side, we allow actual violent offenders to roam free. A felony conviction wont stop you from getting your favorite gun.
     

    Threeband

    The M1 Does My Talking
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 30, 2006
    25,232
    Carroll County
    Here is one of my recent posts on the subject. If you go to the thread, you'll see I continued to rant in frustration in subsequent posts. Frustration partly with the MSP, and partly with other responses in that thread.

    MSP knew perfectly well for many years that the "Bushmaster" named in the ban list is a specific rifle not manufactured in years, and NOT any sort of AR15.

    MSP knows that Bushmaster BRAND HBAR AR15 rifles were sold cash and carry, no waiting period, for years and years and years here in Maryland.

    Only AFTER 2013 did the MSP inexplicably and without justification decide to pretend that the banned Bushmaster refered to any product with that brand name, in defiance of their long standing recognition that Bushmaster brand HBARs were unregulated.

    I think they did this, or were told to do it, out of pure spiteful mean spiritedness.


    Briefly, "Bushmaster" on the Banned List is not a brand name/manufacturer of AR15s, but a totally different model or design of rifle, not manufactured in many, many years. MSP has always known this. Then four years ago, they suddenly started treating "Bushmaster" as a brand name, and claiming that all AR15s, even HBARs, made by that manufacturer are banned.

    https://www.mdshooters.com/search.php?searchid=31417674



    Here's another post, with background on The List and the HBAR Exemption:



    The ban is based on Dianne Feinstein's old Assault Weapons List from about 1988-1989.

    That list was the basis for Clinton's AWB of 1994-2004. It was used by Maryland when so-called "Assault Weapons" were Regulated (Form 77r and 7 day wait), and used for the ban of 2013.

    The List is used by other states, but I don't know if other states versions include the HBAR exemption.

    The List was created by a pair of Dianne Feinstein's staffers, who said they went down to the newstand at lunch time and bought a copy of Gun Digest. They went through the catalog section in the back and listed every long gun that looked scary, or unsuited for wabbit hunting. Seriously.

    Because the List was created in 1988, it is full of odd guns few have ever heard of, such as the Linda and the Bushmaster. (The latter was NOT an AR, but rather an odd combination of AK and AR features, never produced in large numbers. Years later, after the Bushmaster rifle failed, the company turned to making ARs.) Except for a few revisions (I think) in 1994, the List has never been updated, which is why it does not include rifles like the SCAR and Tavor.

    Anyway, in 1988 ARs were not being made by dozens of companies. If you wanted an AR, you pretty much chose among the Colts: the rifle or the carbine. They also had a target version- the Colt HBAR Sporter. This was coming into favor with serious High Power competitors for bullseye competition.

    When legislation is proposed, there is always dealing and hoss trading and compromising. The argument was made that AR15s were increasingly used by serious target shooters. Okay, how can we distinguish the Evil Assault Rifle that kills people from the harmless AR15 that only punches neat holes in paper far away? Why the paper puncher has a Heavy Barrel.

    Further, with the AR15 being added to Maryland's Regulated list, it was pointed out that Junior Competitors between the ages of 18 and 20 would be unable to possess the increasingly favored target rifle of choice. Thus the HBAR exemption.


    By the way, I'm always a little annoyed when I read well-meaning rants about how stupid the HBAR exemption is. What do the ranters expect, that the Slavering Gun Grabbers will suddenly see the light, and revoke all restrictions on gun ownership? Just repeal all the anti gun laws? I do not think they will.
     

    swinokur

    In a State of Bliss
    Patriot Picket
    Apr 15, 2009
    55,394
    Westminster USA
    Your FFL is required to have the A&D bound book I think for 20 years. They should have a record of your name , serial and model of the firearm.

    Welcome to MD Comrade.
     

    jrh0341

    Member
    Jul 20, 2017
    58
    Welcome to MD.

    On the plus side, we allow actual violent offenders to roam free. A felony conviction wont stop you from getting your favorite gun.

    To be fair offenders DO have a slightly longer wait time.

    People with a clean record only get stuck with a 7 day weight period. (based on the time to secure MSP registration)

    A violent offender has a de facto waiting period of 14-30 days from the date of their arrest (based on the time to secure a sentence of "probation" and be released back in the community.):innocent0
     

    zoostation

    , ,
    Moderator
    Jan 28, 2007
    22,857
    Abingdon
    Your FFL is required to have the A&D bound book I think for 20 years. They should have a record of your name , serial and model of the firearm.

    Welcome to MD Comrade.

    Yes this is what I was thinking too. Some dealers may give him grief about going back and looking it up, but it should be there.
     

    TexDefender

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 28, 2017
    1,572
    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?
     

    swinokur

    In a State of Bliss
    Patriot Picket
    Apr 15, 2009
    55,394
    Westminster USA
    Only if legally possessed prior to 10-1-13.

    No gifting even if possessed prior to 10-1-13.

    Inheritance allowed no matter the date
     

    Blacksmith101

    Grumpy Old Man
    Jun 22, 2012
    22,154
    Xerox the documents you have that show you had them prior to the date and submit those to the MSP and see what they say then. They should be able to initiate a trace on the rifle S/N's which would verify what you are claiming.

    What if the OP was to just remove the current upper and buy an Heavy Barrel upper and put it on his lower. Could he then register the gun? He could then return the rifle to its previous configuration when he gets fed up with this state and moves back to the good old USA. He could even use the same upper on both lowers while he is in the Maryland Gulag so he would only have to buy one. I guess he could register just the lower if he removed the upper because that is the "gun", of course he could never reassemble a pencil barrel to a registered lower as long as he was in Maryland.
     

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