Maryland: the "loaded magazine" urban legend, debunked

[ThatIsAFact]

I am not a lawyer, and nothing in this posting should be regarded as legal advice.

But I can read.

For years, some Maryland gunowners have been under the impression that under Maryland's strict law (Section 4-203 of the criminal code) governing the transporting of handguns (without a carry permit), a loaded magazine -- although physically separated from an unloaded gun -- would be treated as if it were a loaded weapon (i.e., would be treated as a violation of the anti-transportation law).

In my own efforts to understand and comply with all applicable firearms laws, I have repeatedly tried and failed to find any legal authority to back up the belief that a detached, loaded magazine could be regarded a loaded gun under Maryland state law.

I find nothing in state law to support such a doctrine. The applicable law merely says that a handgun can only be transported (without a carry permit) to and from certain locations (which are specified in the statute), and when so transported, must be "unloaded and carried in an enclosed case or an enclosed holster."

In 2005, a firearms expert in the state attorney general's office told me that he knew of no court cases that even addressed the issue of detached magazines.

One poster on this website recently said he had once seen a letter from the Maryland attorney general's office, sent years ago to gunstores, asserting that loaded detached magazines and speedloaders would be treated as loaded guns, but current staff at the AG's office have found no record of any such letter. It is exists, somebody should scan it and post it.

I conclude that with respect to Maryland, the "loaded magazine doctrine" is merely an urban legend. Be aware, however, that it might be an urban legend that some law enforcement officers have heard and believed.

It appears that some of the confusion may have been generated by an entry on a list of "Frequently Asked Questions" that appeared for years on a website maintained by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. That FAQ language went like this: "Can I legally transport my regulated firearm to the range? Answer: Yes, provided the regulated firearm is locked, in an enclosed case or enclosed holster with no ammunition accessible, to include loaded magazines."

That answer diverged from state Maryland law, which contains no requirements at all regarding ammunition (other than that the handgun must be "unloaded"), and no requirement that the "enclosed case or enclosed holster" must be "locked."

I note, however, that the language of that FAQ was very recently updated, and that the new version accurately reflects the actual language of the Maryland law. The new version, found here, reads as follows: "Can I legally transport my regulated firearm to the range? Yes, provided the handgun is unloaded and carried in an enclosed case or an enclosed holster, and you are transporting the handgun to or from the places listed in section 4-203 of the Criminal Law Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland."

There is also another document, downloadable in PDF format from the Maryland State Police website, here, titled, "Maryland State Police Licensing Division Frequently Asked Questions." This document addresses the handgun transportation issue in somewhat different language, but I don't quarrel with it.

There is a federal law (18 USC 926A) that overrides state law for those who are transporting firearms through Maryland, which contains somewhat different requirements, but I don't need to get into that here. It is not possible to "violate" the federal law, because the federal law does not prohibit anything; it merely offers a shield that is sometimes useful to those who are transporting firearms through various jurisdictions.

 

[K-Romulus]

urban legend = possible common law

I agree that the "loaded handgun magazine" thing is BS. However here are some things to keep in mind.

There is a DNR-affiliated law that talks about only transporting handguns and shotguns unloaded, or rifles unloaded to include the magazine.

MD courts are allowed (by the highest court's decisions) to "read into" the purpose behind a law to figure out how it applies to a given set of facts.

This concept both helps us and hurts us: the legality of carrying Spyderco-type pocket folders is based on courts using this concept to stretch the definition of "pen knife" under the MD code; This concept was also used to declare legal an owner's temporary "loan" of his/her handguns to someone else without the MSP paperwork; it was also used to shoot down a B-More city prosecutor's argument that a gun hidden in your own home was a concealed weapon violation.

In all of these cases, their rulings were not based on what is written in the black letter law, but what MD courts had "read" them into the law.

This COULD hurt us if an anti-gun-owner judge in MD gets to be the "decider" of this issue since there is no appellate guidance.

Example: Joe MD Gunowner busted with loaded mags while going to the range.

Judge sees handgun charge before him, and thinks:

1) The MD legislature and MD AG declared that the MD handgun law's purpose is to stop shootings by gunowners

2) MD appeals court has said that the general non-gun weapons law is there "to protect weapons owners from themselves" (can get cite if someone asks)

3) The PGCO/MoCO/HoCo/MSP is here arguing that a handgun near a loaded magazine should be treated as "loaded" under the law because "it is just a split-second away from turning road rage into a bloodbath."

4) In keeping with this idea, the MD General Assembly was "obviously" so worried that even trained hunters can't control themselves if they spotted Bambi by the side of the road that it (already) requires rifle magazines to be unloaded during transport.

5) Even the redneck state of Georgia, full of good-old-boy gun nuts, requires people without a carry license to transport their unloaded handguns with unloaded handgun magazines.

6) So the question before me is. . . Is the PG/MoCO/HoCo/MSP interpretation of the handgun law "reasonable" as to effecting the MD handgun laws' purpose?

I would not want to bet on how that one would go.

 

[Rabid Rabbit]

I have an email from the MD AG office and they concur. There is no requirement concerning mags that are seperate from the firearm. I did have one MSP get a little testy about it though. He kept demanding that I justify why I needed to have loaded mags. He didn't like my answer that I prefer to spend my time shooting not loading mags. People's misunderstanding about this law is so bad that I was told that I could not have a unloaded mag in the gun.

 

[ThatIsAFact]

That hunting law explicitly exempts § 4-203(b)

K-Romulus, I am glad you brought up that Maryland hunting law. It is § 10-410, titled, "Restrictions on hunting wildlife generally." The pertinent paragraph reads as follows: "(c) Hunting from vehicles. (1) A person may not shoot at any species of wildlife from an automobile or other vehicle or, except as provided in § 4-203(b) of the Criminal Law Article and Title 5, Subtitle 3 of the Public Safety Article, possess in or on an automobile or other vehicle a loaded handgun or shotgun, or a rifle containing any ammunition in the magazine or chamber. [Boldface added for emphasis]

Thus, this hunting law explicitly exempts anyone carrying under the provisions of § 4-203(b), which is the general anti-carry statute I quoted in opening this thread. In other words, if you are carrying a handgun to or from one of the destinations "approved" in § 4-203(b) or while engaged in one of the activities listed in §4-203(b) (which includes "hunting," by the way), and you are carrying that handgun in accord with the requirements of § 4-203(b) (i.e, "unloaded and carried in an enclosed case or an enclosed holster"), then you don't need to worry about §10-410 at all.

Likewise, if you are person carrying under authority of Title 5, Subtitle 3 of the Public Safety Article (the carry permit statute), §10-410 should not concern you.

Even if you are actually hunting, I still don't think §10-410 means that you can't have a loaded, detached handgun magazine in the car. "Hunting" is one of the activities specifically mentioned in §4-203(b). But if you want to claim the protection of §4-203(b), then that handgun must be in "an enclosed case or an enclosed holster."

I would like to know more about the case, to which you refer, in which "a B-More city prosecutor's argument that a gun hidden in your own home was a concealed weapon violation" was rejected by a court. If that prosecutor was trying to prosecute under Maryland state law, then it was no act of creative judicial interpretation to toss the charged, because among the explicit exceptions in the state law that generally prohibits carrying a handgun -- § 4-203(b) again -- is "(6) the wearing, carrying, or transporting of a handgun by a person on real estate that the person owns or leases or where the person resides or within the confines of a business establishment that the person owns or leases."

Again, I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. But there is a general constitutional principle that applies to all criminal laws: The law must give clear and explicit notice of what is prohibited; what is not clearly prohibited is allowed. With respect to §4-203(b), there really is no ambiguity regarding the mode of carry that is permitted, and the legislature took pains to ensure that there is no conflict between §4-203(b) and §10-410, the hunting law.

 

[crazed_ss]

Heh, this discussion comes up regarding CA law all the time to.
I keep my mags unloaded just to be on the safe side.

CHP says, "If you wish to transport a handgun during your California visit, it should be carried unloaded in a locked container. In the absence of a suitable container, you may secure the unloaded handgun in the locked trunk of a passenger car. Ammunition may be kept in the same container or trunk, but the handgun must remain unloaded with no rounds in the cylinder and no loaded magazines in the magazine well."

CA DOJ says they have to be unloaded. Nowhere does it say mags have to be unloaded too. Apparently DA's have prosecuted gangbangers by claiming loaded mag = loaded weapon though.

 

[K-Romulus]

Thatisafact:

Let me go look around; when I get the cite I will post it. I think it was "in re Colby H.", concerning some teenager in B-More whose mother turned him in after finding a shotgun hidden in his bedroom. I'll double check.

 

[RealGun]

There is a federal law (18 USC 926A) that overrides state law for those who are transporting firearms through Maryland, which contains somewhat different requirements, but I don't need to get into that here. It is not possible to "violate" the federal law, because the federal law does not prohibit anything; it merely offers a shield that is sometimes useful to those who are transporting firearms through various jurisdictions.

I hope that is not to say that there is any safe passage traveling through MD. The state law guide that I use causes me to seek the shortest route north to PA by taking the short WV side, stop at the WV line, unload, and stash my gun in the trunk. I have never unloaded magazines that I recall.

I do actually have a trunk safe, but "locking" is not required to my knowledge.

After about a 20 mile stretch and crossing into PA, I pull over and retrieve my weapon. As far as traffic safety, the PA welcome center is about the first "safe" place to do that, but I would rather be armed when I pull in there, so I wind up opening my trunk with trucks passing right next to me at 70 mph and then waiting for an opening to get back out on the road. It's a challenge just to get out of the car and back in at a busy time, since the shoulder isn't much wider than the car.