swinokur
Activist Member
imported post
Dreamer wrote:
MD Statute 4-209 below
§ 4-209. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the State preempts the right of a county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district to regulate the purchase, sale, taxation, transfer, manufacture, repair, ownership, possession, and transportation of:
(1) a handgun, rifle, or shotgun; and
(2) ammunition for and components of a handgun, rifle, or shotgun.
(b) (1) A county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district may regulate the purchase, sale, transfer, ownership, possession, and transportation of the items listed in subsection (a) of this section:
(i) with respect to minors;
(ii) with respect to law enforcement officials of the subdivision; and
(iii) except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, within 100 yards of or in a park, church, school, public building, and other place of public assembly.
(2) A county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district may not prohibit the teaching of or training in firearms safety, or other educational or sporting use of the items listed in subsection (a) of this section.
(c) To the extent that a local law does not create an inconsistency with this section or expand existing regulatory control, a county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district may exercise its existing authority to amend any local law that existed on or before December 31, 1984.
(d) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, in accordance with law, a county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district may regulate the discharge of handguns, rifles, and shotguns.
(2) A county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district may not prohibit the discharge of firearms at established ranges.
In answer to the other question about carry, MD 4-203 has very strict limits on when you can carry an unloaded weapon in your vehicle. You cannot drive around for an unlisted purpose in an enclosed holster.
appropriate sections of MD Statute 4-203 below
(3) the carrying of a handgun on the person or in a vehicle while the person is transporting the handgun to or from the place of legal purchase or sale, or to or from a bona fide repair shop, or between bona fide residences of the person, or between the bona fide residence and place of business of the person, if the business is operated and owned substantially by the person if each handgun is unloaded and carried in an enclosed case or an enclosed holster;
(4) the wearing, carrying, or transporting by a person of a handgun used in connection with an organized military activity, a target shoot, formal or informal target practice, sport shooting event, hunting, a Department of Natural Resources-sponsored firearms and hunter safety class, trapping, or a dog obedience training class or show, while the person is engaged in, on the way to, or returning from that activity if each handgun is unloaded and carried in an enclosed case or an enclosed holster;
Carry for any reason not listed above will get you arrested, regardless of whether the holster is legal or not.
As far as open carry with a permit, it's not listed as being illegal, doing it will get you an arrest for disturbing the peace and your permit revoked. It has been tried and the results were not good.
Federal Title 18 Sec 926 (FOPA) mandates the weapon in a locked case in the trunk and in the case of a vehicle with no trunk, either weapon or ammo in a locked case.
Dreamer wrote:
Dreamer, MD does have preemption with certain limits.That is the way the MD law reads...
However, you need to remember that MD DOES NOT have state preemption, and so a lot of cities and municipalities have laws prohibiting transport, carry or display in their jurisdictions, and some are even written to disallow OC if you have a valid MD permit, and they get away with it, because MD state law allows it.
In MD, it is a "general carry" permit, or more properly, a "Permit to Carry a Handgun". Ther eis no requirement or stipulation that if permitted, you must carry concealed. So if you've got a permit in MD, you can open carry. The problem is, many cities have banned the open display of firearms. Open carry (or ANY carry for that matter) is not legal in MD unless you have a PTCF, and even then, it's pretty much been banned--EVEN for permit holders--in all the urban areas like Rockville, Baltimore, or Chevy Chase...
Now as for carrying a gun on your hip in an "enclosed holster", even if it's unloaded, here's my take. It is legal, per the letter of the law. And since an enclosed holster would NOT have the gun "openly displayed", if you have a MD LTCF, it would probably even be legal in cities with an Open Display ban. But IANAL...
HOWEVER, knowing what I know about the attitudes of the MSP and Montgomery County LEA's, if you are pulled over in a car and have a WWII-style flap holster on your hip, and have an UNLOADED .45 in it, you WILL be proned and cuffed, you WILL have your person and your vehicle meticulously searched, you probably WILL be charged with some variant of "contempt of cop" like "disturbing the peace" or "diorderly conduct" or some other such "catch-all" violation, and you WILL have your firearm seized.
Now in a state with a non-criminal government and court system, any rational judge wold throw such a citation out, have your property returned to you, and let you go on your way.
But in MD, chances are, unless you've got Alan Gura as your defense attorney, you're going to get convicted, and you are NOT going to get your gun back.
If you want to be a "test case" and you have the time and money to fight it, then more power to you.
My answer to the criminal mentality of the MD government is to just "leave my guns at the border" before crossing the moat...
But then again, IANAL... Yet...
MD Statute 4-209 below
§ 4-209. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the State preempts the right of a county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district to regulate the purchase, sale, taxation, transfer, manufacture, repair, ownership, possession, and transportation of:
(1) a handgun, rifle, or shotgun; and
(2) ammunition for and components of a handgun, rifle, or shotgun.
(b) (1) A county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district may regulate the purchase, sale, transfer, ownership, possession, and transportation of the items listed in subsection (a) of this section:
(i) with respect to minors;
(ii) with respect to law enforcement officials of the subdivision; and
(iii) except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, within 100 yards of or in a park, church, school, public building, and other place of public assembly.
(2) A county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district may not prohibit the teaching of or training in firearms safety, or other educational or sporting use of the items listed in subsection (a) of this section.
(c) To the extent that a local law does not create an inconsistency with this section or expand existing regulatory control, a county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district may exercise its existing authority to amend any local law that existed on or before December 31, 1984.
(d) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, in accordance with law, a county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district may regulate the discharge of handguns, rifles, and shotguns.
(2) A county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district may not prohibit the discharge of firearms at established ranges.
In answer to the other question about carry, MD 4-203 has very strict limits on when you can carry an unloaded weapon in your vehicle. You cannot drive around for an unlisted purpose in an enclosed holster.
appropriate sections of MD Statute 4-203 below
(3) the carrying of a handgun on the person or in a vehicle while the person is transporting the handgun to or from the place of legal purchase or sale, or to or from a bona fide repair shop, or between bona fide residences of the person, or between the bona fide residence and place of business of the person, if the business is operated and owned substantially by the person if each handgun is unloaded and carried in an enclosed case or an enclosed holster;
(4) the wearing, carrying, or transporting by a person of a handgun used in connection with an organized military activity, a target shoot, formal or informal target practice, sport shooting event, hunting, a Department of Natural Resources-sponsored firearms and hunter safety class, trapping, or a dog obedience training class or show, while the person is engaged in, on the way to, or returning from that activity if each handgun is unloaded and carried in an enclosed case or an enclosed holster;
Carry for any reason not listed above will get you arrested, regardless of whether the holster is legal or not.
As far as open carry with a permit, it's not listed as being illegal, doing it will get you an arrest for disturbing the peace and your permit revoked. It has been tried and the results were not good.
Federal Title 18 Sec 926 (FOPA) mandates the weapon in a locked case in the trunk and in the case of a vehicle with no trunk, either weapon or ammo in a locked case.