How to buy a gun in Maryland

A friend and avid hunter, who owns firearms of all kinds, asked me how to buy a handgun in Maryland. For someone who is experienced with firearms and has purchased in the past, this may seem like a silly question. But, if you haven’t bought a handgun in the last three years Maryland laws changed in 2013 and the process is quite different than it has been for the last twenty years.

You haven’t been able to go into a gun store in Maryland and walk out with a handgun for fifty years. In 1966, Maryland enacted laws that required a background check and a seven-day waiting period for the purchase of handguns. The purchaser completed a personal questionnaire and the form was submitted to the Maryland State Police (MSP) to conduct the background check. If you cleared the check, and seven days had passed, the store could transfer the gun to the buyer. That part of purchasing a gun hadn’t changed for a generation of gun buyers, until 2000.

The Responsible Gun Safety Act of 2000 added the requirement that purchasers must complete a firearms safety class prior to purchasing a gun. The buyer still completed the forms, which were submitted to the MSP for a background check, and waited seven days, but before the buyer could obtain the gun they had to complete a certified firearms safety-training course.

The process changed most recently in 2013. The Firearm Safety Act added another step to the purchasing process. A prospective buyer must now possess a Handgun Qualification License (HQL). As part of the HQL application process the buyer must submit to a fingerprint background check, submit an application for a HQL to the MSP, and complete a four-hour Firearms Safety Training Course presented by a State approved instructor. The HQL is good for ten years and costs $50. However, the application cannot be submitted without digital fingerprints, the cost of which vary by vendor and is in addition to the HQL fee.

Now to answer the question-How to buy a handgun in Maryland? Another four pages could be written, to be succinct, the prospective buyer must complete the following process.

1. Obtain digital fingerprints

2. Submit digital fingerprints to the MSP

3. Submit application to the MSP for HQL

4. Complete Firearms Safety Training Course

5. Receive HQL card

6. Verify HQL to firearm dealer

7. Complete Application to purchase handgun

8. Dealer submits application to the MSP

9. Wait seven days

10. If after seven days, you are approved to purchase the gun the dealer may transfer the gun

You now own a handgun. Of course, Maryland’s one gun a month law is still in effect. So if you desire to own another gun you have to wait thirty days. The subsequent purchases would be easier as you already have your HQL. You would only need to present your HQL to the dealer, complete and submit to the MSP the purchase paperwork, and wait the seven days.

Of course, with any law there are exceptions. There are exceptions to the training component and to the need for a HQL. For more, the Maryland State Police, Licensing Division, provides a detailed explanation of the Handgun Qualification License process on it’s website. HQL page

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