Another MD Law question

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JasonMD85

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My GF offered to house sit for one of her bosses two weeks from now. The house we will be staying at is about 45 minutes away, in an unfamilar area (Annapolis). I have no idea how nice of an area it is, nor do I know anything about her neighborhood, nieghbors, enemies etc. We are supposed to stay there from Friday morning untill Sunday afternoon/evening. We are getting PAID to stay there, not paying here, therefore it is not a "leased" residence. Is it still illegal to conceal carry while inside the house WITHOUT the owners permission? Shes a nice lady on a lot of things (Except shes racist...) but not nice enough where my GF will ask if its ok to bring my handgun with us.

TIA as always


-Jason
 
Maryland State Police will not be happy with you armed anywhere. As already stated, tough gun laws. :fire:
 
Annapolis is pretty chill-I'm not sure where in Nap town you'll be, but for the most part it is alright.

As I have been subject to some of MDs major BS weapons laws, I'd not chance it. I would strongly advise against carrying anywhere OTHER than on the property, and even then I would be leary. If it were me, I'd leave the Rosco at home, sorry to say. At your own home is one thing, at anothers is something else entirely.

Where are you sitting at anyways? PM if you don't feel comfortable posting here.
 
not sure, I just know its in Annapolis. I leave it at home, shes got 2 pit bulls anyway:evil:
 
Technicalities will get you on this one.


You are only allowed to transport your weapon "to and from your bonafide residence, formal or informal shooting events and gunsmiths or other gun dealers"

Not quite verbatim, but you get the idea.

Plus you are technically employed by the house owner, which means you would need their permission to carry while working for them.

All of this is of course pure b.s., but in MD you never know how far the attorney general will stretch the law.
 
You are only allowed to transport your weapon "to and from your bonafide residence, formal or informal shooting events and gunsmiths or other gun dealers"
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IIRC, that only applies to handguns and "assault rifles", he'd be ok taking his 870 or 590 over to the boss's house. And if he's staying there overnight, I believe its considered his residence.

Kharn
 
what kharn said

However, the MD Ass't AG who answered email questions on matters like this has retracted his opinion that "bona fide residences" were anyplace you were spending the night.

His reason was that he couldn't definitively say that it was OK, because no MD court has ruled on what constitutes a "bona fide residence" in the context of the handgun law.

(I have found no state-level transport restriction on firearms other than for machine guns and handguns, except for the usual "unloaded," not on school property, etc. Localities are allowed to establish their own rules for areas within 100 yards of "places of public assembly" like parks and schools. But that's just me)

MD courts have said that where you stay overnight (i.e., as a house guest) counts as a "domicile" for no-duty-to-retreat purposes. I think a halfway competent lawyer could argue the "domicile" reasoning applies to the "residence" definition.
 
he'd be ok taking his 870 or 590
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Hmmm....I hadn't thought of that. Might be time for another purchase, eh? :evil:

I've long thought that gun control laws were so counterproductive in that even a threat of a ban, or in this case limiting what one can use drives people to buy more, and different guns to conform to the law.
 
Well, I just bought a Bersa, thats all I have for now, so ill just rely on the Pit Bulls and my trusty Benchmade :evil: :) . Off topic, but how ya doing Spot77? Havent had a chance to say hi to you or your brother for awhile. Tell him I said hi, will ya?


-Jason
 
I'm doing fine, thanks!

Norton is away at band camp (ugh....I know the movie references that y'all are thinking about :evil: ), and he and I will be driving to Florida this weekend to pick up a new boat. Not a lot of time for shooting right now.

Congrats on the Bersa. I have one too. It was also my first gun. It's been so good that Norton bought one too to carry on the mountain with him.
 
Annapolis is an interesting study of the "haves", "working-my-butt-off-to-have -a-little" and the "want-to-have-yours". Insane amounts of wealth on the top end, a fairly high standard of living in the middle, and an ugly underbelly of crime that rivals Baltimore in visciousness, albeit on a smaller scale.

Fortunately, the latter category is mostly confined to the corridor along Rowe Blvd, through Parole along Forest, and down Bay Ridge Ave. Remember that "Annapolis" covers a large area geographically as far as postal codes go, even as far out as the Bay Bridge and Cape St Claire. This is the reason that some firearms related merchants won't ship stuff to my house because the City of Annapolis proper has a lot of ordinances on ammunition, etc. and they lump our little corner of AA County into that out of fear of prosecution.

Also remember that a lot of folks will say "Annapolis" to out-of-towners unfamiliar with the area when they really mean Arnold, Severna Park, Crownsville.

I'd say that as long as you're outside of the aforementioned "underbelly" areas you're in good shape and it's not worth the hassle/potential risk of hauling your Bersa along.
 
Norton is spot-on with his description of Annapolis. I, to, classify my area as "Annapolis" even though technically it is Arnold. If I heaved a rock hard enough, it would land in Naptown.

Where I disagree with him, though, is posession of a firearm in Annapolis proper. It, too, is just as "hostile" as the others. I speak from firsthand experience as I am now dealing with the aftermath of a situation...from 11 years ago! Trust me when I say that MD is NOT gun friendly. It is better in recent years, but by no means even close to some of the other more lenient states out there. One can thank Prince Georges & Montgomery counties, along with Baltimore city. To a lesser extent, DC as well. This is why I can't wait to get out of this state.

Jason, if you choose to bring your weapon with you, just be careful. Don't ask, don't tell is the rule here.
 
Where I disagree with him, though, is posession of a firearm in the other areas. They, too, are just as "hostile" as Annapolis
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Apex,

I don't know if I'm misundertanding you or you're misunderstanding me so I'll just clarify my post re:"good to go" ;)

What I meant was that if he's outside of that Parole/Forest/Bay Ridge corridor then it's unlikely that he'll really have to worry about crime as acutely as if he were along that drug-infested swath of the city. If I were house-sitting at your end of College Parkway, I wouldn't even worry about a firearm for a temporary house-sitting situation. Not worth the risk of incurring the wrath of Papa Joe "no individual right to firearms" Curran.

However if i were at, say, Robinwood (henceforth known as Mogadishu :p ) I would settle for nothing less than body armor and an AR15. :neener:

Looking at it from the other side.....I have no doubts that crime exists outside of Mogadishu. In fact a horrific home invasion of a neighbor when we lived in West Annapolis was the tipping point of my buying my first handgun. At our end of the College Parkway, we have our fair share of mischief (window breaking, graphiti, etc) and serious crime is very rare but the potential is certainly there.

There's no doubt that the potential for being in harm's way is always there. I'm mostly analyzing it from a risk/benefit perspective. The last thing Jason needs as a new gun owner is to risk a charge of illegal transport for a night's stay on the shores of the mighty Magothy since he's statistically more likely to get in a car accident on the way there than have any interactions with a criminal in Arnold or the Cape. That analysis tips in favor of some sort of means of protection (or not taking the house sitting gig) if the setting switches to an address in the president streets or in Mogadishu.
 
Norton,
I think I misunderstood. You're absolutely right-I wouldn't carry a weapon into Robinwood, or Newtowne, or Clay Street, or Bywater, or...most of Eastport south of 6th Street were I to house sit. That said, I also probably wouldn't house sit there anyways (unless of course I had a Bradley fighting vehicle).

I also agree that it would be unwise to pop up on Currans radar resulting from a weapons charge. I speak from first-hand experience that MD sucks when it comes to gun laws, and I'd hate to see Jason get prosecuted should he need to use said weapon. The flip side is, as the saying goes, I'd rather be judged by 12 then carried by 6.

Anyways, I hope Jason uses good judgement in this case, it definately has some perplexing angles, ones that I cannot give solid advice on, other than to not bring a weapon. Just to keep him out of trouble.

Somebody mentioned bringing a shotgun-that to me would seem to be the wisest choice, but I'm not sure on that one.

Chances are highly likely that nothing will happen, but there is always that off-chance...
 
Thanks for the advice everyone, although now I am not sure that I should have asked :fire: .... I just got the address for the house: *** Francis Nicholson Way, Annapolis MD, 21401. It seems to be off ROWE BLVD near "Weems Creek" in a neighborhood BEFORE the gated neighborhood. I may have misinterpereted, but I think I remember someone saying ROWE BLVD being one of the bad areas. I wish I could back out of this house sitting gig, but my GF commited to it for her boss before I even knew about it. Hope all turns out well, Ill let yall know how it goes in a couple weekends from now
 
Jason,

I think you're fine there. It looks like that's back where all of the high-dollar townhouses and condos are. If you MapQuest it, you'll see Admiral Drive, back towards the mall. If you follow Admiral as it crosses under 50/301 that's where there's a pretty sketchy area.

I just went back and re-read my initial post and noticed I gave you some incorrect info. In my post-three-days-with-450-teenagers-stupor I said "Rowe Blvd" when what I should have said was Aris T Allen Blvd.

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. If I get to town tomorrow I'll scout out the street for you.
 
Jason,
That area is okay-almost bought a place there. You should be fine, though. As Norton pointed out, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Also as Norton pointed out, Admiral Drive towards West Street gets shady (like around Moreland Pkwy) so if you can, avoid that part.

Good luck, and BTW, Heros isn't too far from there. If you want I can give you directions to there. Great place if you like micro-brews. Cheers!
 
Thanks guys, appreciate the advice. No thanks, Apex, Ive got plently to bring, and plenty there waiting for me. I feel a little better now, I just get a little ansy about places I dont know very well without any buddies around. Ive had a few problems here in Howard County before, so to me no where is really that safe without some trustworthy buddies.
 
I can transport a non-regulated firearm in my vehicle whenever i want and not just to the range? Does it matter where in the vehicle?
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In short, yes. You would treat it as one would in the United Sta...er, other states with less restrictive laws. Put it in the trunk, unloaded in a lockable (note, not necessarily locked) case, separate from the ammo and I think that even in MD you would be OK.

Just be sure to avoid places that may have specific restrictions. Schools come to mind at the moment.....
 
So let me get this straight;

I can transport a non-regulated firearm in my vehicle whenever i want and not just to the range? Does it matter where in the vehicle?
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I would second what Norton said, but add my understanding of the following:

1) The MD preemption law allows localities to regulate firearms in the zone found within 100 yards of parks, schools, and other "places of public assembly." For example, the Montgomery County ordinances say that no guns can be in this zone unless being actually transported unloaded and cased to or from certain places.

2) The regulated firearm law only deals with the regulation of the transfer of certain firearms. Transporting firearms falls under the Handgun Law and the fish & game law that requires all long guns to be transported unloaded.

Whenever I retire (in 25 years), and if I am still living in MD, I am going to get admitted to the MD Bar go to town on getting the word out on these crazy MD laws.
 
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