Posted: 4/1/2004 8:02:06 PM EDT
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For Christmas 2000, I gave my mother a Smith 317 (22LR snubbie). She has never been out to shoot it, and I am still in legal possession of it. She lives in Maryland, I live in Pennsylvania. I looked into the transfer requirements when I bought the gun, but that was before all the nonsense about safety videos and locks and God knows what else. Can somebody explain the process for transferring ownership of the gun to her? Do I just take it to the police station and fill out some paperwork? Is there a fee? Does she have to watch a video, and if so, what's involved in that? I know MD had some kind of approval or disapproval list, how do I find out if the 317 is on that? I don't want any surprises; she's nervous enough about owning a gun in the first place <g>. TIA, jafager |
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I'm not a lawyer, but: Since it is a handgun, it is a regulated firearm and she must take the firearms safety training course. I took it in Frederick. All that is involved is showing up on the scheduled night (no appointment needed), filling out a form, showing your driver's license to verify your identity, then plopping your behind in a chair for 45 minutes (unsupervised) while the video plays. You can read more about it, including schedules and locations, at www.mdgunsafety.com. By the way, the official class is really a waste of time. You would think that if they were really concerned about gun safety they would take the time to present a good class with live, hands-on instruction. But that is not the case. The video is poor quality, contains mistakes, and doesn't teach you anything you don't already know (assuming you already know the four basic rules of firearm safety). I think the primary goal of the video is to scare you out of buying a gun at all. If you really want your mother to learn firearm safety, sign her up for an NRA course. As for the handgun roster, you can find it at www.mdsp.maryland.gov/mdsp/handgun/handguns.asp. Your Smith and Wesson 317 is on the approved list. You can do the transfer through an FFL holder or a "designated law enforcement agency". The fee for a secondary transfer is capped at $20 by law (not counting the $10 background check fee). You can read the entire Maryland code here. The regulated weapons section is here, and the secondary transfer sub-section is here. |
It's unlikely she'll go out without me, at least not anytime soon. The video thing isn't a big deal as long as I can go with her; it will make her less uncomfortable, and give me an opportunity to counter any BS that gets tossed about <g>.
I was afraid it might fall under the goofy "Saturday Night Special" regulations, like my P32. Do you have to wait the ten days for a transfer, same as if you bought it from a dealer? jafager |
There is no problem with that. The night I went there were three of us officially attending. I was by myself, but the other two (a single mother and a father) each brought a child with them (the single mother had a ~16 year old daughter, the father a ~12 year old daughter). Both told me that since they were going to be keeping a handgun in the house they wanted their children to be educated as well. Naturally the children were bored to tears by the useless video. Of course, so was I. But I forced myself to watch it thoroughly anyway. It's just another example of a stupid law implemented stupidly. Here we have two responsible parents trying educate their children on safe and proper gun handling, but the law mandating "protection of children" does nothing to further those parents' goals. Ask yourself this, who would more likely have a better outcome if they came across an unsupervised handgun, the child whose parents think guns are evil and shield their child against guns and all knowledge of them, or the child whose parents teach, both by word and example, how to respect and properly handle a gun? You also have to consider that the gun-fearing parents' child's only exposure to guns is probably television and movies where they see all sorts of "cool" gunplay and get no safety training. That child will have a thousand times the curiousity of the educated child who has been exposed to real guns, and his only role model will be the gun-slinging shoot-em-uppers of hollywood.
As I read it, yes you still have to abide by the seven-day waiting period. But again, I am not an authority. |