Universal Background Checks – Get the Truth, Read Facts

This fact sheet is brought to you by the Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association and as it applies to Maryland the facts are also useful for the entire nation. Read and share everywhere.

Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association
Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association

Maryland –-(Ammoland.com)-  Anyone engaged in the business of buying and selling firearms for profit must be federally licensed as a firearms dealer.

Anyone purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer must pass a background check through the National Instant Check System (NICS).

In Maryland, all handgun and so-called assault rifle transactions must go through a dealer or the State Police for a background check and a 7 day waiting period before the buyer can take delivery of the firearm. This includes private sales.

It is against Federal law to transfer a handgun between private individuals except between residents of the same state. So a Maryland resident cannot legally purchase a handgun from a Pennsylvania resident. That transaction must go through a licensed Maryland firearms dealer.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics survey of state prison inmates convicted of firearms crimes found that 79% acquired their firearms from “street/illegal sources” or “friends or family.” This includes theft of firearms, black market purchases of stolen firearms, and straw purchases. The survey also found that 12 percent obtained their firearms from firearms dealers, while only 1.7% obtained firearms from anyone (dealer or non-dealer) at a gun show or flea market.

An average of 232,400 firearms were stolen each year between 2005 and 2010 according to Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Anyone can advertise on the internet to sell a gun but the seller who is not a dealer is prohibited from selling a firearm to a resident of another state without going through a dealer, and cannot mail or ship a firearm to another person other than a dealer regardless of the state. A dealer is prohibited from transferring a firearm to a buyer who is not a dealer, unless the buyer appears in person and presents ID for purposes of signing the federal Form 4473 and running the mandatory NICS check.

About:
The Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association (MSRPA) is the flagship Gun Rights organization in and for the State of Maryland. The Association offers both individual and club memberships. Support of the shooting disciplines and legislative activities is primarily through a systems of committees. All participants are volunteers.

In the face of a near tidal wave of citizen disarmament occurring in Maryland, the MSRPA has played a critical part in drawing the line and standing firm for Gun Rights. Without this resistance, things would have been much worse and been so much sooner. Now the objective is to continue to develop new activists with numerous individual skills who will help us bring Maryland into line with the rest of the states which have made strong gains in protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Visit: www.msrpa.org

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Jack

Re: Universal background checks

This sounds all well and good, except: a check puts the purchaser on a government database. When the tyrants decide to come for your guns they will know where you are.

Sure, we all want to try to limit gun sales to criminals and crazies. So lock them up. No problem.

Darryl Haas

Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to 1st say THANK YOU, each and every one of you, for supporting our Precious 2nd Amendment. WE DID IT! The Petition went Public earlier this morning, and is “Quickly” getting on track to reach the Goal of the needed 100,000 SIGNATURES requiring a Response from the White House. This will again become possible only because of YOU and the Combined Support of Everyone that signed the Petition. For ALL of you that have not Signed the Petition, and wish to do so, I have included the link to the White House dot gov website… Read more »