Moving to WV... Bringing "banned" guns back into Maryland to go shooting?

ZeroCool · Feb 20, 2017

Hello All,

I'll be honest, couldn't think of a very concise title for this thread.

Here is the scenario:

I'm a current MD resident with a few now "banned" firearms (purchased before the ban, of course). If this new job goes through, there is a real chance for a move to WV.

While that is exciting to me on many fronts, it also creates the scenario where I'd be bringing these now banned firearms back into Maryland to go shooting with my friends who still live here.

I seem to recall this being a part of the FSA but my google-fu is weak and forum searches aren't pulling up much. My understanding is that I can travel through Maryland legally but this would be traveling to Maryland.

In short, if I move to a different state, are MD banned firearms also "banned" from re-entering the state to be used on MD property?

Many thanks in advance for any and all responses!!!

stringer bell · Feb 20, 2017

nobody cares.

if asked, they never left the state.

end thread.

MikeTF · Feb 20, 2017

stringer bell said:
nobody cares.

if asked, they never left the state.

end thread.

Check back in a year (probably a lot sooner). Free America cures BGOS (Battered Gun Owner Syndrome). You will do your research and be completely MD legal when you visit your friends with the exact same firearms that are legal in MD today based on your circumstances.

Art3 · Feb 20, 2017

Did you see the FAQ on the MSP liscensing page:http://mdsp.maryland.gov/Organization/Pages/CriminalInvestigationBureau/LicensingDivision/FAQs.aspx? If you look under, "Transporting firearms," it sounds like you'd be ok as long as you owned them before 10/01/21013...which obviously you do. Now...FAQ is not the law...and proving ownership may be tricky. Hopefully someone will come along who can quote the actual law that the FAQ is referencing...cuz I'm certainly not a lawyer (and all that jazz). :shrug:

You'd have to be especially careful that none of your newer freedom purchases got mixed in when you came back. That would definitely be a no-no.

Congrats on the escape plan :party29:

ZeroCool · Feb 20, 2017

Thanks for all of the responses so far. Definitely excited about the possibility, even with a "not so fun" commute - can get a lot more house for the money and I think that quality of life (especially with my hobbies) will go up tremendously.

Art3 said:
Did you see the FAQ on the MSP liscensing page:http://mdsp.maryland.gov/Organization/Pages/CriminalInvestigationBureau/LicensingDivision/FAQs.aspx? If you look under, "Transporting firearms," it sounds like you'd be ok as long as you owned them before 10/01/21013...which obviously you do. Now...FAQ is not the law...and proving ownership may be tricky. Hopefully someone will come along who can quote the actual law that the FAQ is referencing...cuz I'm certainly not a lawyer (and all that jazz).

You'd have to be especially careful that none of your newer freedom purchases got mixed in when you came back. That would definitely be a no-no.

Congrats on the escape plan

Thank you for this link!!!

Based on what I'm reading, I should be good to go with what I own now (having the MD paperwork handy, of course) but any new "assault weapons" would potentially cause a problem. From what I'm reading, any handguns purchased would be good to go, though.

Any additional thoughts/feedback from our members would be appreciated!

DubTap21 · Feb 20, 2017

In for info

Sent from my SM-N930T using Tapatalk

Doctor_M · Feb 21, 2017

I've got one of my Grandfathered no-no guns living in WV temporarily.... no problem with bringing it back and forth. Enjoy your new home!

Hawkeye · Feb 21, 2017

stringer bell said:
nobody cares.

if asked, they never left the state.

end thread.

That has literally nothing to do with the proper answer to his question, and just ignoring the law on this kind of stuff is perhaps not the wisest course of action.

ZeroCool said:
T
Thank you for this link!!!
Based on what I'm reading, I should be good to go with what I own now (having the MD paperwork handy, of course) but any new "assault weapons" would potentially cause a problem.

That's correct. In order to possess any now banned "assault weapon" in the state of Maryland, you must have possessed it prior to Oct. 1st, 2013. As long as you possessed them prior to that date, you can bring them here and shoot them and then take them home again. Once you're a WV resident though, if you buy any banned rifles after October 2013 you can't even bring them to Maryland, period.

From what I'm reading, any handguns purchased would be good to go, though.

Yes. You would only need to worry about handguns if you ever moved back to MD, when you would be required to register them with MSP.

swinokur · Feb 21, 2017

not the first time crappy advice has been offered.

Jagzilla · Feb 21, 2017

Pfft. Have your buds travel to WV to shoot with you in your new state. Pull out a new toy they can't buy. Let them taste the freedom!

Biggfoot44 · Feb 21, 2017

Alright ! MDS meetup at the OP's place ( home range ?).

MikeTF · Feb 21, 2017

Jagzilla said:
Pfft. Have your buds travel to WV to shoot with you in your new state. Pull out a new toy they can't buy. Let them taste the freedom!

Great idea. WV is constitutional carry. They can all experience free America.

davsco · Feb 21, 2017

anyone aware if any non-MD resident has been stopped, arrested, and/or prosecuted for having a banned gun in merryland?

how does/would that even work? you get pulled over. somehow they look in your trunk. somehow you have to open up your gun cases. what do they do, fondle your AR and measure the barrel width or look for a HBAR stamp? or confiscate it until you can find your purchase receipt from x years ago?

Doctor_M · Feb 21, 2017

I'm assuming that if you are "passing through" and transporting a MD-banned long gun in compliance with FOPA, you should be good-to-go.... but it's Maryland, so who knows.

Hawkeye · Feb 21, 2017

Doctor_M said:
I'm assuming that if you are "passing through" and transporting a MD-banned long gun in compliance with FOPA, you should be good-to-go.... but it's Maryland, so who knows.

IF you are passing through Maryland you should be covered by FOPA. If your destination is in Maryland, it is illegal to bring a banned rifle which you did not possess prior to 10/1/13 here, period.

slsc98 · Feb 21, 2017

I hesitate to even mention this (and I shudder at the memory) but, many MANY years ago, several members of my family and I car-pooled from SoMD up the Izaak Walton League facility up in Montgomery (or, Frederick?) County to attend one of ONLY TWO MSP "seminars" for non-FFL citizens on then Gov. P. Glendenning's (allow me moment to wipe the memory of THAT p.o.s. out of my mind!) of his (and Miller's and then AG Curran's) new "Omnibus Crime Control package."

Anyway, before I digress too much, at one point during the "progromming lecture" the MSP Cmdr emceeing the circus (to a room full of vets, many decorated, and law-abiding professionals for Lord's sake!) stated emphatically (paraphrased as closely as I am able, after nearly 3 decades), "And if you take any gun on the banned list or, any of those high capacity (back then it was >20 rd) magazines OUT of and then Re-enter the State of MD and we stop you, WE WILL CONFISCATE THEM!"

That was in response to a question from the audience which was eerily similar to that of the OP (which is what brought that specific portion of that whole, horrible night to my conscious mind) AND the MSP Cmdr actually used "going shooting in WV and then getting stopped upon returning to MD" as a part of answer/example.

Of course, the next question was, "Well, if they were legal to possess before the owner went into WV and then returned, under what provision of the law would you confiscate them and, more to the point, what law would you charge the owner with violating?"

The MSP Cmdr practically lost it ala former MSP Super Mitchell-style and, in a shrill voice responded to (never actually answering) the question, "We do not want them in this State and if they are taken out, we don't want them brought back in!!!!!!!!!!"

That whole night remains one of the darkest hours in both my career as an LEO not to mention a (happily, now 'former') MD citizen.

I realize that was nearly 30 years ago but, reading the OP, I guess my thought is, "Was it REALLY that long ago?"

lazarus · Feb 21, 2017

davsco said:
anyone aware if any non-MD resident has been stopped, arrested, and/or prosecuted for having a banned gun in merryland?

how does/would that even work? you get pulled over. somehow they look in your trunk. somehow you have to open up your gun cases. what do they do, fondle your AR and measure the barrel width or look for a HBAR stamp? or confiscate it until you can find your purchase receipt from x years ago?

Yes. Somewhere I think in the Eastern shore board someone posted a news story about a couple of idiots from Delaware that had it happen. Arrested for making comments to cops in an unmarked car (wearing POLICE vests) about being drunk and high or something like that. Pulled them over and charged them with poession of MJ, a concealed knife (in center console), and possession of a banned weapon.

It is the later charge concerning the current law. they had a pencil barrel AR-15 in their trunk. Banned weapon and they were 20, so they couldn't have legally possessed it before 2013.

This was a few months ago in OC.

I suspect if a generally otherwise law abiding citizen were to be found in possession of one, like during a traffic stop, the police probably aren't going to go to the trouble to check serial numbers, call the manufacturer and trace through FFLs and/or individuals on the chain of ownership to prove whether or not the gun was manufactured and owned by you prior to October 2013.

When you are young enough you couldn't have legally owned the gun at the time...well that one takes about 10 seconds of mental math by the investigating and now arresting officer.

MikeTF · Feb 21, 2017

Arrest rates for Maryland on weapons charges is 104 per 100,000 people or 0.1%. If a person is discrete, there's way more than a 99.9% chance that they are not going to be prosecuted. https://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/woofccj.pdf

Let's not forget that everyone here is law abiding, so there's nothing to worry about.

jkeys · Feb 22, 2017

lazarus said:
Yes. Somewhere I think in the Eastern shore board someone posted a news story about a couple of idiots from Delaware that had it happen. Arrested for making comments to cops in an unmarked car (wearing POLICE vests) about being drunk and high or something like that. Pulled them over and charged them with poession of MJ, a concealed knife (in center console), and possession of a banned weapon.

It is the later charge concerning the current law. they had a pencil barrel AR-15 in their trunk. Banned weapon and they were 20, so they couldn't have legally possessed it before 2013.

This was a few months ago in OC.

I suspect if a generally otherwise law abiding citizen were to be found in possession of one, like during a traffic stop, the police probably aren't going to go to the trouble to check serial numbers, call the manufacturer and trace through FFLs and/or individuals on the chain of ownership to prove whether or not the gun was manufactured and owned by you prior to October 2013.

When you are young enough you couldn't have legally owned the gun at the time...well that one takes about 10 seconds of mental math by the investigating and now arresting officer.

Except if the guns were inherited or owned by a trust. Then they could still be lawful in MD.

Hawkeye · Feb 22, 2017

jkeys said:
Except if the guns were inherited or owned by a trust. Then they could still be lawful in MD.

No they could not, because the law says possession not ownership. Being a trustee of a trust that owns property gives you the right to possessi the trust's property, but that mere possession is illegal in Maryland. It doesn't matter who the property is owned by, (which in that case would be the trust) it matters who it is possessed by (which in that case would be the individual trustees, who would be criminally liable for breaking the possession statute).

Moving to WV... Bringing "banned" guns back into Maryland to go shooting?

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

Active Member

Active Member

Ultimate Member

Eqinsu Ocha

Active Member

Active Member

Certified Mad Scientist

The Leatherstocking

In a State of Bliss

Banned

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

Certified Mad Scientist

The Leatherstocking

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

Active Member

The Leatherstocking

Users who are viewing this thread

Log in

Forum statistics