SO my best friend moved to MD and is living in Howard County.  He is still a Maine resident I guess in terms of his drivers license and such.  He left his .357 revolver and 1911 pistol here in ME because I looked at the laws in my FFL DVD and I really didn't think it wise for him to bring them right yet until he found out more about specific laws as the laws are really confusing.  ANyways, he went to a range and asked around and they told him he was fine to bring his handguns down here but he had to make sure they were locked in a separate area in the vehicle as the ammo and he could transport them from where he is living to the range and back but do not stop or speed or anything as the cops will run you through the ringer.  I asked him when he was a MD resident officially if he could buy a handgun in MD.  He said yes but it would be registered with the state.  I am not comfortable with what the guys told him at the range and don't relish the thought of hearing he was in jail because ME residents cannot have handguns at all in MD and he got busted.  I believe I saw something to the effect that the only way you can have a handgun or assault rifle is if you were registered to shoot at a competition and were on your way to it ror something.

Any thoughts on this situation?  WHen he comes back up to ME to close on their house, should he take his handguns back with him?

Thanks everyone!!  Just trying to keep my buddy out of jail!

As long as he has a residence he can possess his firearms.

There's no legal requirement to inform them that you have a weapon in the vehicle.  And unless you tell them or give permission, there's no probable cause to search.

A lot of people break the law in MD when it comes to transporting firearms - especially the "no stopping" thing.  There's a difference between what some politician thought it would be good to write into the law and what is even practical to obey or enforce.  Sometimes you need to stop for fuel/coffee/pee break and that's the way reality is.  Thankfully, if you're smart about it, there's no way to actually catch you.

Thanks guys!  That should help a bit.  I looked at the links above and like I said, I perused the MD laws as printed in the BATF book (now on DVD) that I get because I have a C&R FFL.  The laws are so fucking convoluted that you can't figure out if you actually have boy or girl parts once you are done reading them!!  Fricking government can't put anything in plain damn English...

Umm, it was locked in my glovebox with the registration. I told him there was a holstered, unloaded handgun in the glovebox and asked if he wanted to get the registration himself.