HB1261 - Weapon Crimes - Assault Long Guns and Copycat Weapons

CharlieFoxtrot said:

Here's some more fuel for the fire: about 7-8 years ago I received a letter sent to me at my home address in Frederick County from the PG county police department. It was from a Detective saying a pistol that was was "registered" to me and listed the serial number had been recovered and and I could come down and pick it up from the police evidence section. The pistol was identified as a Charter Arms 38 spl revolver. Thing is I have never owned any charter arms pistol and at that time had never had a firearm stolen from me. I wrote them back and said they were mistaken I never owned any such firearm. Never heard back from them but it shows you how good their records are.

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Had a friend that happened to. The detective even went as far as to suggest he just take the gun, since that would make it easier on him.

Any date/time for the hearing yet? At one point, I saw 2-26 @ 1pm put out there, but haven't seen official sources back this up.

smokey0118 said:

Any date/time for the hearing yet? At one point, I saw 2-26 @ 1pm put out there, but haven't seen official sources back this up.

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The bill summary page (http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/hb1261) still shows 1st Reading. No hearing date as of yet.

smokey0118 said:

Any date/time for the hearing yet? At one point, I saw 2-26 @ 1pm put out there, but haven't seen official sources back this up.

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I have heard it won’t move this session. Will likely not have a hearing. No idea if that’ll prove to be the case or not.

lazarus said:

I have heard it won’t move this session. Will likely not have a hearing. No idea if that’ll prove to be the case or not.

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Let’s hope that’s true


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fidelity said:

Lol, almost insulting (apologies to Charter Arms owners). An old, blued Colt revolver might have made it just slightly harder to say it's not mine.

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Isn’t that the truth. Something cool I might’ve been tempted but luckily my ethics remained untested since I wasn’t about to make a 4 hour round trip for a “recovered” Charter Arms 38.

rbird7282 said:

Let’s hope that’s true


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Even if it's true, it's bound to be reintroduced in the near future. These measures are the next checkoff boxes in Bloomberg's anti-gun lobby "to do" list.

ironpony said:

Interstate? Say one moves to free America and next session said free state adopts red flag laws. Can they ask MD for your purchase records and would MD hand them over. (Shipped overnight with a bow on top)?

Asking for a friend.

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NO

bitterkenny said:

Even if it's true, it's bound to be reintroduced in the near future. These measures are the next checkoff boxes in Bloomberg's anti-gun lobby "to do" list.

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Well, we can always hope that the elections change things up in our favor and this issue goes away. It really is amazing how much time politicians spend on nonsense instead of fixing real issues.

Anyway, as my father in-law says, hope in one hand and crap in the other, and see which one fills up first.

fabsroman said:

Well, we can always hope that the elections change things up in our favor and this issue goes away. It really is amazing how much time politicians spend on nonsense instead of fixing real issues.

Anyway, as my father in-law says, hope in one hand and crap in the other, and see which one fills up first.

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I doubt any dramatic changes. That said, there are a few seats in the house and senate in purple areas that went dem by only a couple/few hundred votes (less than 1%). Always a chance next cycle a couple/few seats go red. That would help plus possibly a few Dems and less secure districts thinking twice about what they vote for.

PS yeah, I have little doubt this bill will come back even if it doesn’t move this session. I think it’s a “look we are doing something” bill. I suspect it will be amended in the off season and reintroduced. Or maybe it won’t come back. Dunno. I can hope and light some candles as well as write and call my reps.

lazarus said:

I doubt any dramatic changes. That said, there are a few seats in the house and senate in purple areas that went dem by only a couple/few hundred votes (less than 1%). Always a chance next cycle a couple/few seats go red. That would help plus possibly a few Dems and less secure districts thinking twice about what they vote for.

PS yeah, I have little doubt this bill will come back even if it doesn’t move this session. I think it’s a “look we are doing something” bill. I suspect it will be amended in the off season and reintroduced. Or maybe it won’t come back. Dunno. I can hope and light some candles as well as write and call my reps.

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I appreciate the info. It does not relieve me completely but it is good to hear. I had a heard time seeing how this whole thing was going to be rushed into production, the rush that would be put on FFL's registering firearms, the backlog that the State of Maryland would have, etc. Not to mention the pure absurdity of the entire bill. I have said enough.

lazarus said:

I doubt any dramatic changes. That said, there are a few seats in the house and senate in purple areas that went dem by only a couple/few hundred votes (less than 1%). Always a chance next cycle a couple/few seats go red. That would help plus possibly a few Dems and less secure districts thinking twice about what they vote for.

PS yeah, I have little doubt this bill will come back even if it doesn’t move this session. I think it’s a “look we are doing something” bill. I suspect it will be amended in the off season and reintroduced. Or maybe it won’t come back. Dunno. I can hope and light some candles as well as write and call my reps.

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More jerrymandering will resolve that as it has in the 33rd. Locked blue now.

Mark75H said:

More jerrymandering will resolve that as it has in the 33rd. Locked blue now.

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^This. Remember this is a Decennial Census year

Lets support whoever is running against the current District 13 Delegates. One in particular needs to be voted out.

dblas said:

And, interestingly enough, the database was never supposed to be searchable by name, only by firearm model and serial number. No clue when that changed, but I am guessing sometime in the late 90's.

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buellsfurn said:

what else do they know and not saying ?

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Is your local gun dealer helping ATF to compile a firearms registry?
Last month several Gun Owners of America staff members attended the SHOT Show to deliver our “no compromise” message to the firearms industry. It is an exciting time at GOA as we build relationships with some of the best names in the industry. Watch our Partners Page grow over the coming weeks and months.

I have not attended SHOT Show in many years and wow, I certainly learned a lot.

There were many new guns to check out. Twenty first century gun buyers seem to have an unlimited amount of quality firearms to choose from. Many of the new models were designed using Computer Aided Design (CAD) software which enables engineers to save time and development costs. This is a good thing — it allows for a very short time interval between a concept or idea for a firearm. And when these modern designs are manufactured and begin to appear on gun dealer’s shelves, it gives gun buyers a multitude of choices. Choice in guns is a good thing.

I also learned about a computer software package that is dangerous and that is the topic of this article. But first, a little background on the ATF laws and rules that firearms dealers must follow.



Federal law and ATF regulations require a licensed firearms dealer (an FFL holder) to record the date a firearm was received, the date of receipt, and the name and address or the name and license number (FFL number) of the person (or corporation) from whom the firearm was received. The dealer must also record the name of the manufacturer and importer (if any) and the model, serial number, type and caliber or gauge.

Then, when a firearm is disposed of, for any reason, a dealer is required to record the disposition: showing the date of sale or other disposition– gift, loan or testing (anytime a gun leaves the licensed premises it must be logged out of the bound book) and the name and address or the name and license number (FFL number if a dealer) of the person (or corporation) to whom the firearm was transferred. If to a non-FFL holder, there will also be a completed form 4473 in the dealer’s records and the information will include the person’s full legal name and address, NICS approval code and make, model and caliber.

These requirements have been in place since at least 1968 and dealers must make their records available for ATF inspection during business hours — and no warrant is required. The law prohibits ATF from making complete copies of dealer’s records which could be used to create a registry of guns and gun owners.

Now that I’ve explained the law, I want to explain how computer technology is causing a problem for gun buyers.

While attending the SHOT Show, I learned about a software package that makes dealer record keeping easier.

The software allows dealers to keep an electronic bound book. It is an online package and the dealer pays a monthly fee based upon the number of transactions. When the software is being used, the screen resembles a bound book. The software has spell check and prevents misspelling of names such as Glock (Gloc) or SCCY (SKKY). And because all of the information is typed on a screen, it makes it easy for those who have poor quality handwriting to keep legible records that can then be made into a PDF which, when printed, looks like a traditional printed “bound book.”

Software, making daily tasks easier… what could possibly go wrong?

Plenty!

When speaking with the software vendors, I specifically asked how does ATF conduct compliance inspections of dealers who are using this software package. I was given a demonstration and shown how the software exports the data (guns and gun buyers names and addresses) into either a PDF that resembles an old-fashioned bound book or a Comma Separated Values (CSV) file that can be opened in Microsoft Excel.

I was told that this “feature” makes a compliance check easy because the dealer simply exports the CSV file to a thumb drive and the ATF leaves with the data. I was told that ATF analyzes the data away from the FFL’s premises. If there are any discrepancies or problems the gun dealer is notified and usually given an opportunity to correct the errors.

When dealing with compliance with government rules, many people do what is easy. That’s why so many file their US form 1040 tax return electronically, even though experts claim that increases the likelihood of an audit. I wasn’t surprised when the software vendor told me how well-received their application has been. Especially since it makes things easy, and ATF is not on dealer’s premises for more than a few minutes.

I accept that it is bad for business to have ATF personnel hanging around. This scheme is a danger, and allows ATF to easily create a gun registry — in violation of 18 USC 926 (a)(3). We have no way to know if a registry is actually being created and if the ATF is or is not destroying these records at the conclusion of the compliance check. One might argue they’re not, because GOA has received reports of ATF demanding copies of entire (paper) bound books. That is bad, but at least with paper, the data still needs to be converted to an electronic format to be of any real use. However, a CSV file that can be searched in MS Excel is of significant value to a government that wishes to track gun owners.



How do you feel about your personal information — linked to guns you own, by make, model and serial number — being put into the ATF’s hands? If you’re like me, you don’t like it, and you know that registration can and has led to confiscation. Not only in far away foreign lands but in US states like New York.

So what can you, the regular GOA Member and gun buyer do to protect yourself?

Ask. That’s right, ask your dealer how he keeps his or her records. Are they compiled in an old-fashioned bound book, or are they using one of these twenty-first century software packages?

GOA’s advice is to find a small, preferably home-based FFL — one who still keeps paper records — and transact exclusively with that FFL dealer. Take affirmative steps to protect yourself.

tball said:

Lets support whoever is running against the current District 13 Delegates. One in particular needs to be voted out.

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Yeah you’re not kidding. I live in that district. I hate it


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Dingo3 said:

^This. Remember this is a Decennial Census year

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Yep, and when the census taker knocks on my door, I have 15 people living in my house in Carroll County.

rbird7282 said:

Yeah you’re not kidding. I live in that district. I hate it

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Me too. The vote in district 13 is auto-D. An R gets about 20-25% of the vote if they put up signage.

inkd said:

He and Matt Bracken should get together and write a book.

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I still wont comply

I've seen the text and it basically outlines redefining pistols and what is defined an "assault weapon". Places nearly all firearms with semi auto and detachable magazine into the banned "assault weapons" by definition. Registry mandatory for ones in circulation.