Maryland does not have reciprocity with other states for concealed carry permits. Whether you open carry or conceal carry a legally owned firearm in Maryland is not an issue: it is illegal if you are out of state. Unless you are a licensed FFL dealer who can argue “transport” of firearms, you will find yourself in the same situation as Mr. Smartt below. Which was one of the reasons I stopped going back to Pennsylvania to visit relatives. But then I have a FFL and still don’t go back.
David DeGerolamo
Weapons, including AK-47-style rifle, found in car after I-81 traffic stop
Scott C. Smartt, 51, of Needmore, Pa., has been charged with illegally transporting a handgun in a vehicle and possession of an assault weapon, according to a state police news release.
Smartt also was charged with not wearing a seat belt and using a hand-held phone.
Maryland State Police 1st Sgt. Kevin Lewis of the Hagerstown barrack said the traffic stop was not related to the fatal shooting last week on I-81 just north of the state line in Franklin County, Pa.
Police said a trooper and a cadet were patrolling I-81 near Halfway at about 2 p.m. Thursday when they saw a man driving a Lincoln while talking on a hand-held phone with no hands on the steering wheel.
Talking on a hand-held phone while driving is illegal in Maryland.
After stopping the car, the trooper saw a handgun in the glove box of the vehicle when Smartt was searching for the registration, the release said. Smartt was ordered out of the car and arrested without incident.
h/t Doug S
Thanks Maryland and Herald Mail for making a criminal out of a man transporting a legally owned firearm and pistols. He will no doubt spend a ransom to defend his 2nd Amendment right- not privilege- to do so in the Maryland court system . The majority of persons who own and transport these are not bad criminals with mal intent. However, Maryland and the Herald Mail has already painted this man a criminal. I travel the roads in Maryland often to get to our cabin in PA outside Hancock, MD. I have to take a longer route through PA to get there when transporting my legally owned firearms and pistols. What a shame and sham
The article doesn’t specifically state whether the individual arrested was traveling through Maryland to another 2A friendly destination.
If so, the “Safe Passage” provision of the McClure-Volkmer Act should protect a traveler going through Maryland from harassment if they comply with the transport requirements:
Notwithstanding any other provision of any law or any rule or regulation of a State or any political subdivision thereof, any person who is not otherwise prohibited by this chapter from transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm shall be entitled to transport a firearm for any lawful purpose from any place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm to any other place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm if, during such transportation the firearm is unloaded, and neither the firearm nor any ammunition being transported is readily accessible or is directly accessible from the passenger compartment of such transporting vehicle: Provided, That in the case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the driver’s compartment the firearm or ammunition shall be contained in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/926A
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_Owners_Protection_Act
… no FFL or concealed carry reciprocity required.
As I remember, many people from Pennsylvania used to make liquor runs to Maryland to avoid paying the high Pennsylvania taxes. The McClure-Volkmer Act will hopefully be the basis for his defense but he would have to prove that he was travelling to another state. Maybe he should use the 14th amendment for his defense as a federalized citizen.
David, you should practice driving through Maryland to Pa so that you could adjust your “normalcy bias.”
Interesting that you should use this phrase. Until we remove our normalcy bias, we cannot move forward.I believe that I have removed as much normalcy bias as possible for financial considerations: very limited 1’s and 0’s exposure and no debt. I will no longer be voting: this is the number 1 normalcy bias that is holding back our country. I wrote last year that Obama would be reelected for one simple reason: add the people receiving a government handout or on government workfare and they outnumber us. Who are “us”? Those who have faith in God instead of those who have faith in our Socialistic government.
Your “normalcy bias” is evident in the statement that you do not want to travel through Maryland because you are armed. My suggestion is that you actually practice driving through areas where firearms may be illegal. That way if our government makes us outlaws by what we own you will have already overcome the hesitation of doing things that might one day save your life. I suffer from the same bias when driving in Maryland, New Jersey, Philadelphia…I am doing something illegal according to the local technocrats.
Driving through Maryland armed was a consideration until I realized that my FFL gives me federal protection (took about 5 minutes). Think about that statement. But I agree with you on another level. I would not go into Washington, DC with a firearm.
And that is why we live in tyranny. And that is why I have to remove all remaining artifacts of normalcy bias.
I don’t want to go back to Pennsylvania because north of Virginia is like going to a third world country. And I find it too hard to leave Dixie for any other part of the country.
The problem I have is traveling from PA county through MD and back into PA to a different county. Doing this cuts of about 20 miles verses traveling solely in PA. MD law used to state that you could transport from bona fide residence to another bona fide residence or from your home to your business and back. 50 states and 50 different laws and one 2nd amendment…