Moved to Maryland- Handgun Registration

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  • Shore88

    Active Member
    Dec 20, 2020
    206
    Eastern Shore
    Hypothetical - If someone were to move here from out of state, and not register their guns because they either didn’t know the law at the time, or just never bothered with it, is there a penalty for registering late? Like two years late. Asking for a friend, I’m a lifelong resident.
     

    rseymorejr

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 28, 2011
    26,002
    Harford County
    Interesting question. How does the state expect the poor saps that are moving here to even know about that ********? Aside from MD Shooters members I'd be willing to bet that 90% of lifelong Maryland residents have no clue about it.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,673
    That would be a violation of the law.

    If I were a betting man, I doubt MSP would kick it to the DA to try to prosecute someone for voluntarily registering if you were past the deadline.

    Now getting caught not having registered, I’d imagine they would.

    Seems like a “consult a lawyer” type situation IMHO.

    As for the in general, it is incumbent upon an individual to know the laws where they live. But specifically, I think most folks with a room temperature IQ know that gun laws vary state to state and would try to do some research of the laws of the state they are moving to if they owned guns. Is there registration. Can I legally own my gun there. What are transport/carry laws in the state. Etc. doesn’t mean you won’t get hemmed up and miss something. But some of the stuff is pretty easy to find with just a couple minutes of research.

    Heck you’ve gotta learn other things like “how do I register my car” in your new state.
     

    Shore88

    Active Member
    Dec 20, 2020
    206
    Eastern Shore
    Interesting question. How does the state expect the poor saps that are moving here to even know about that ********? Aside from MD Shooters members I'd be willing to bet that 90% of lifelong Maryland residents have no clue about it.
    I’m a lifelong resident and I had no clue about many of these laws until I started reading this forum about a year ago. I mean, I assume many folks who move here from other states where guns are not an issue might simply throw their guns in a case and bring them along when they move. Thinking nothing of it. To be honest, it probably happens a lot.
     

    Shore88

    Active Member
    Dec 20, 2020
    206
    Eastern Shore
    If I were a betting man, I doubt MSP would kick it to the DA to try to prosecute someone for voluntarily registering if you were past the deadline.

    You’re probably right, but why be the test case? I agree the lawyer might be a good starting point.
     

    OMCHamlin

    Ultimate Member
    BANNED!!!
    May 17, 2017
    1,115
    The Cumberland Plateau
    ....But specifically, I think most folks with a room temperature IQ know that gun laws vary state to state and would try to do some research of the laws of the state they are moving to if they owned guns.
    Heck you’ve gotta learn other things like “how do I register my car” in your new state.

    You MIGHT think that, but in my experience, most of those "room temp IQ folk" actually believe the last set of rumors they heard about the last gun laws of the last state they lived in, and flat out make up the rest as they go along, some becoming damn indignant when you confront them with actual, current facts about the laws they are vaugely sorts trying to comply with. Standing behind a gun counter, I have heard the absolute dumbest, most ill considered interpretation of gun laws you could imagine, and most might even exceed your imaginations!

    "How do I register my car!!!???" I have YET to actually meet a former Maryland resident that moved to Virginia, that bothered to change their driver's license, and I killed a sale to a kinda cute lady when (after she and I completed her paperwork, of course, and I was ready to punch it in the computer), she leaned over to me in a conspiratorial tone and whispered that she was "using " her VA drivers license, but she had move to Salisbury a year ago!
    WTF???
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    Heck, most long term or lifetime MD residents don't know the laws.

    Remember all those trying to buy a handgun last year that did not know about the HQL.

    And I have run into a number of people who did not know that it was illegal to FTF transfer a handgun since 1996.
     

    71Chevelle427

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 19, 2015
    3,298
    B'More County, Maryland
    Interesting question. How does the state expect the poor saps that are moving here to even know about that ********? Aside from MD Shooters members I'd be willing to bet that 90% of lifelong Maryland residents have no clue about it.

    Heck, most long term or lifetime MD residents don't know the laws.

    Remember all those trying to buy a handgun last year that did not know about the HQL.

    And I have run into a number of people who did not know that it was illegal to FTF transfer a handgun since 1996.

    Exactly, I don't read the newspaper, or watch the news, so if it weren't for this place, I would not know a fraction of the gun laws that I do now.

    A co-worker has an old (probably 50 years old), shotgun, and offered it to me for $100, and an old, beat up S&W .38 snubbie that he'd probably give me...Told him we'd have to go to an FFL to do the transfer...His reply was, "What's an FFL?"
     

    Docster

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 19, 2010
    9,768
    That would be a violation of the law.

    If I were a betting man, I doubt MSP would kick it to the DA to try to prosecute someone for voluntarily registering if you were past the deadline.

    Now getting caught not having registered, I’d imagine they would.

    Seems like a “consult a lawyer” type situation IMHO.

    As for the in general, it is incumbent upon an individual to know the laws where they live. But specifically, I think most folks with a room temperature IQ know that gun laws vary state to state and would try to do some research of the laws of the state they are moving to if they owned guns. Is there registration. Can I legally own my gun there. What are transport/carry laws in the state. Etc. doesn’t mean you won’t get hemmed up and miss something. But some of the stuff is pretty easy to find with just a couple minutes of research.

    Heck you’ve gotta learn other things like “how do I register my car” in your new state.

    Most legal questions are. I don't understand why folks do otherwise
     

    Bikebreath

    R.I.P.
    MDS Supporter
    Jun 30, 2009
    14,836
    in the bowels of Baltimore
    So what have we learned so far in this thread? The laws are confusing, complicated and maybe just designed to catch you in some trap. Conspiracy theory? Don't park 30" from another car in Baltimore City...just sayin'.


    ETA: Bow to your Political Class, bitch.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,673
    Heck, most long term or lifetime MD residents don't know the laws.

    Remember all those trying to buy a handgun last year that did not know about the HQL.

    And I have run into a number of people who did not know that it was illegal to FTF transfer a handgun since 1996.

    Honestly I can understand a resident being ignorant with accumulated law changes they might not have been aware of.

    I guess for me it is less the “average person” moving to a new state and more “look buddy, it is on you to know the laws of the state you are moving to”. Or city. County. Etc.

    On a less serious, but micro level, I’ve run in to plenty of people who moved in to the suburbs from wherever and didn’t know they couldn’t have chickens on their 1/10th acre property townhouse neighborhood. Or couldn’t build a shed on their property line in a rural area. Or target shoot on state land. Etc.

    “Well where I was that was fine”.

    Different house, different house rules. Sucks and largely why I wish/think states, counties and cities need to minimize the differences in laws from one to the next.

    I get some issues are rural vs suburban vs urban on things like zoning. But a lot of things have nothing to do with where you are in respect to what is reasonable and all about who is running the place.
     

    JMB

    Member
    Jan 30, 2019
    22
    I brought a .22 bolt action rifle to MD from KS after my father passed in 2014. I have lived in MD since 2001. Before I went to KS, I contacted MSP and asked what I needed to do to bring that rifle into MD legally. When I told them it’s at least 80 years old, they said it’s an antique so I did not need to do anything. They suggested I transport it disassembled which I did. Guess it depends on the firearm.
     

    trickg

    Guns 'n Drums
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 22, 2008
    14,584
    Glen Burnie
    This law has one purpose only - it's to be able to disarm someone who may run afoul of the law for another reason.

    Think about it - let's say Joe Bag-O-Donuts moves into Maryland and has no clue that he's supposed to fill out forms with the state for his guns that are applicable to the law. Then, he goes about his business - lives his life, keeps his nose clean, goes to the range and shoots, hunts, etc. The state has no clue that he even has guns, much less that he didn't fill out paperwork on them when he moved to the state. As long as this remains the status quo, he's technically in arrears with the law, but no one is checking and it doesn't really matter.

    But....

    Let's say one night something goes south where the police are called into the home, and as everything unfolds it becomes known that Joe Bag-O-Donuts has guns and didn't fill out paperwork for them when he entered the state. At this point the police can confiscate every last one of them - not just the regulated guns that didn't get logged, but everything, because at this point, in the eyes of the state, Joe Bag-O is a criminal with a firearms related charge.

    That's the way I see it anyway, although it should be noted that IANAL.
     

    ralph.mclean

    GOC (Grumpy Old Cop)
    Jan 27, 2018
    236
    Edgewater, MD
    Now: Lawyer.

    IF you don't register, and you get caught: "Lawyer."

    And enjoy the company of whomever is in the cellblock with you, while you wait.

    Keep in mind the old adage, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."

    Good luck getting ANY of your guns back afterward.........
     
    Last edited:

    dblas

    Past President, MSI
    MDS Supporter
    Apr 6, 2011
    13,087
    I brought a .22 bolt action rifle to MD from KS after my father passed in 2014. I have lived in MD since 2001. Before I went to KS, I contacted MSP and asked what I needed to do to bring that rifle into MD legally. When I told them it’s at least 80 years old, they said it’s an antique so I did not need to do anything. They suggested I transport it disassembled which I did. Guess it depends on the firearm.

    The law took affect in 2013, long before you brought your rifle to MD, and it affects handguns, and those rifles/shotguns considered banned, by Maryland statute.
     

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