A visit from the Maryland State Police

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  • BillC

    Member
    Jan 11, 2010
    22
    Silver Spring, MD
    I received a visit from two officers of the Maryland State Police this morning. They rang the doorbell at 6:10 am, apparently to catch me before I could go to work (which they did).

    The backstory: back in March, I purchased a heavy-barrel Colt AR-15 A3 from a Virginia dealer at the Chantilly gun show. Since it was a Colt and has a heavy barrel (not M4 or other profile), both the dealer and I agreed it was exempt from the Maryland regulated firearms and so I purchased it over-the-counter (after the normal NICS check).

    Their story: the ATF audited this dealer sometime afterwards, and wrote down all purchases made by MD residents and reported them to the State Police. Since the dealer recorded it as "Colt AR-15", the police had to investigate since it could have been an improper purchase of a regulated firearm.

    At their request, I retrieved the gun in question from the safe. They verified the serial number and then said I had to register the gun because it was a regulated firearm. And, apparently, the only way to register a gun in MD is to fill out all the MD regulated firearm purchase paperwork, since they insisted I had to fill it out. I tried to argue that it is a Colt and it has a heavy barrel (to which they agreed on both points), but they said it was still regulated. They pulled out a copy of the regulated long gun list and pointed to the AR-15 line, where it says AR-15s and all copies & clones "except for Colt Sporter HBAR". Since my gun is marked "Colt AR-15 A3" and not "Colt Sporter HBAR", they said it was regulated. They were polite and respectful, but very insistent that I had to fill out the paperwork. Even though I really didn't want to, I decided it was probably better to comply than fight the MSP, and filled out the paperwork. They said at some point in the future they would mail me a "not disapproved" notice, so I can take possession of the gun I already own.

    Two points to this story:
    1) The MD State Police are being very aggressive about tracking down any out-of-state purchases of potentially-regulated firearms.
    2) The MD State Police are sticking to the exact wording of the regulated firearms list and consider any AR-15s not marked "Colt Sporter HBAR" to be regulated. This also means that it may not be possible to purchase any AR-15s after 1 Oct that aren't specifically marked "Colt Sporter HBAR", at least if the MSP has any say in the matter.
     

    gamer_jim

    Podcaster
    Feb 12, 2008
    13,233
    Hanover, PA
    Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure it has to be marked on the lower receiver hbar. Is yours engraved on the lower?

    Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
     

    Wojo

    What's that Smell
    May 8, 2012
    2,488
    Wrong side of the Potomac
    Is this the same dealer the other MDS member patronized and got a vist from MSP over. Did we ever find out the dealer for this?

    Just when i thought this state could not get any dumber with 2a!

    Edit: just behind the 2 post above
     

    SWO Daddy

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 18, 2011
    2,468
    I received a visit from two officers of the Maryland State Police this morning. They rang the doorbell at 6:10 am, apparently to catch me before I could go to work (which they did).

    The backstory: back in March, I purchased a heavy-barrel Colt AR-15 A3 from a Virginia dealer at the Chantilly gun show. Since it was a Colt and has a heavy barrel (not M4 or other profile), both the dealer and I agreed it was exempt from the Maryland regulated firearms and so I purchased it over-the-counter (after the normal NICS check).

    Their story: the ATF audited this dealer sometime afterwards, and wrote down all purchases made by MD residents and reported them to the State Police. Since the dealer recorded it as "Colt AR-15", the police had to investigate since it could have been an improper purchase of a regulated firearm.

    At their request, I retrieved the gun in question from the safe. They verified the serial number and then said I had to register the gun because it was a regulated firearm. And, apparently, the only way to register a gun in MD is to fill out all the MD regulated firearm purchase paperwork, since they insisted I had to fill it out. I tried to argue that it is a Colt and it has a heavy barrel (to which they agreed on both points), but they said it was still regulated. They pulled out a copy of the regulated long gun list and pointed to the AR-15 line, where it says AR-15s and all copies & clones "except for Colt Sporter HBAR". Since my gun is marked "Colt AR-15 A3" and not "Colt Sporter HBAR", they said it was regulated. They were polite and respectful, but very insistent that I had to fill out the paperwork. Even though I really didn't want to, I decided it was probably better to comply than fight the MSP, and filled out the paperwork. They said at some point in the future they would mail me a "not disapproved" notice, so I can take possession of the gun I already own.

    Two points to this story:
    1) The MD State Police are being very aggressive about tracking down any out-of-state purchases of potentially-regulated firearms.
    2) The MD State Police are sticking to the exact wording of the regulated firearms list and consider any AR-15s not marked "Colt Sporter HBAR" to be regulated. This also means that it may not be possible to purchase any AR-15s after 1 Oct that aren't specifically marked "Colt Sporter HBAR", at least if the MSP has any say in the matter.


    1. Does this mean MD gun shops can stamp "Colt Sporter HBAR" on anything they want to sell C&C?

    2. That's absolute bull$hit. This is almost the same story we heard last week too.
     

    SWO Daddy

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 18, 2011
    2,468
    Is this the same dealer the other MDS member patronized and got a vist from MSP over. Did we ever find out the dealer for this?

    Just when i thought this state could not get any dumber with 2a!

    Edit: just behind the 2 post above

    I believe he said it was SSG Tactical in Fredericksburg, VA.
     

    Norton

    NRA Endowment Member, Rifleman
    Staff member
    Admin
    Moderator
    May 22, 2005
    122,853
    There's no question that they are being directed to take the most narrow interpretation of the law.

    It used to be accepted that the "copy/clone" language cut both ways in that a copy of an HBAR was accepted as being non-regulated even if not so stamped.

    Obviously they are being directed to interpret the language literally.

    There are going to be a ton of people caught up in this one, especially those that were purchasing 16" carbines as "HBARs". There was also a Bushmaster model that was a direct copy of the Colt HBAR that was a very popular gun in Maryland about 10 years ago.
     

    Ab_Normal

    Ab_member
    Feb 2, 2010
    8,613
    Carroll County
    There's no question that they are being directed to take the most narrow interpretation of the law.

    It used to be accepted that the "copy/clone" language cut both ways in that a copy of an HBAR was accepted as being non-regulated even if not so stamped.

    Obviously they are being directed to interpret the language literally.

    There are going to be a ton of people caught up in this one, especially those that were purchasing 16" carbines as "HBARs". There was also a Bushmaster model that was a direct copy of the Colt HBAR that was a very popular gun in Maryland about 10 years ago.

    What do I have to do to become an industry partner offering on site 'Colt Sporter HBAR' stamping services?:)
     

    bpm32

    Active Member
    Nov 26, 2010
    675
    Damn, MSP changes the rules again. Thought we had a gentleman's agreement on the HBARs...
     

    SWO Daddy

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 18, 2011
    2,468
    So...does anyone think MD gun shops aren't next on the list for this?

    Maybe an FFL can answer - do you have to keep separate books on you unregulated sales?
     

    Wojo

    What's that Smell
    May 8, 2012
    2,488
    Wrong side of the Potomac
    This is the second reported case of this bullying tactic. I don't like it.

    Yup. I had the talk with the wife in case they show up for some crazy reason. I am going to have a little different starategy though; no warrant no entry. Sorry, i have nothing to hide but i am not just gonna allow this BS.
     

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