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Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- The Gun Control Act (GCA) generally prohibits any person from transferring firearms to any unlicensed person who they know or have reasonable cause to believe does not reside in the State in which the transferor resides.

See 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(5). Longstanding Federal firearms regulations at 27 C.F.R. 478.11 define the term “State of residence” differently for U.S. citizens and aliens.

A U.S. citizen’s State of residence is the State in which he or she is present with the intention of making a home; while an alien is considered a resident of a State if he or she has resided in that State for a period of at least 90 days prior to the date of transfer with the intention of making a home.

As you know, Federal firearms licensees (FFLs) are required to obtain documentation establishing that an alien legally in the United States has resided in the State continuously for at least 90 days prior to the transfer of the firearm.

This documentation is currently recorded as a response to Question 20c of the Firearms Transaction Record, ATF Form 4473.

The Department of Justice (the Department) has recently concluded that, as a matter of law, applying a more stringent State residency requirement for aliens legally present in the U.S. than for U.S. citizens is incompatible with the language of the GCA.

As a result, ATF will be revising the regulations in 27 C.F.R. Part 478 to conform to the Department’s conclusions by removing the separate 90-day residency requirement for aliens. Once the regulations have been revised, both U.S. citizens and aliens legally present in the U.S. will be subject to the same requirements for State residency and proof of residency. ATF is in the process of amending its forms to conform to the statute as well.

This process of amending the relevant regulations and forms will be completed as expeditiously as possible. Until that process is complete, however, the current regulations have the force of law. Accordingly, for the time being, FFLs should continue to use the current forms and abide by the current regulations.

ATF is committed to assisting you in complying with Federal firearms laws. If you have any questions, please contact ATF’s Firearms Industry Programs Branch at (202) 648-7190.

Filed under: Shooting Industry News by Ammoland No Comments »

Maryland Shall Issue

Maryland -–(Ammoland.com)- As some of you will recall, we brought to your attention on June 16 of this year the fact that the Anne Arundel County Council passed an ordinance that required dealers of second hand merchandise to maintain records and purchase an additional business license in order to continue to maintain their business in the county.

While the word firearm is nowhere mentioned in the ordinance, the County Executive and the Anne Arundel County Police Department took it upon themselves to determine that they would apply the terms of that law to licensed firearms dealers in the county.

Maryland Shall Issue took a position in opposition to the bill for two reasons:

1. That the $250 base license with $50 per employee add on fee was an unacceptable burden to these heavily regulated small businesses which must already purchase federal and state firearms licenses as well as county business licenses.
2. Most importantly, that the records keeping requirements were a blatant violation of the state preemption laws. The State of Maryland “preempts the right of a county, municipal corporation, or special taxing district to regulate the purchase, sale, taxation, transfer, manufacture, repair, ownership, possession and transportation of” a handgun, rifle or shotgun as well as the ammunition for those firearms. (Criminal Law Article – Section 4-209 (a) )

The Public Safety Article – Section 5-104 also states that “the Regulated Firearms Subtitle supercedes any restriction that a local jurisdiction imposes on a sale of a regulated firearm”. Similar language is repeated in Section 5-134 of the same article.

This ordinance would have required these licensed firearms dealers to submit a daily record of their transactions to the county police with information including the type of firearm as well as the name and address of the person transferring the firearm.

You will also recall that Councilman Jerry Walker of the 7th Council District proposed a bill that would have expressly exempted licensed firearms dealers from the language of the ordinance. This bill was subsequently voted down in spite of MSI’s attempts to get the members of the county council to see reason.

With the assistance of Delegate Don Dwyer (R – District 31) and his staff, Maryland Shall Issue drafted a request to the Attorney General’s office requesting an opinion on the legality of the ordinance on the basis of not only the Maryland preemption language, but also MSI’s assertion that this bill violated the federal Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986.

After a long wait, we are happy to report to you that Delegate Dwyer’s office has forwarded us the official opinion from the Office of the Attorney General confirming that the ordinance as being enforced is in direct contravention of the state preemption laws.

A copy of that opinion can be found here.

Anne Arundel County will be forced to change their policy of coercing licensed dealers to comply with the language of this ordinance.

Contact Information for Anne Arundel County Council

Now that the Office of the Attorney General has ruled the dealers’ licensing ordinance illegal as it is being applied to licensed firearms dealers, it is time for the County Council to hear from the MSI membership that we expect compliance with state law.

As always, be polite and respectful in your communication, but be firm in stating that the council is clearly in violation of state law and that the council must direct the county police to stop this illegal application of this ordinance.

Anne Arundel Residents can find their council districts by going here and looking at the top link on the right side of the page.

District 1 – Hon. Daryl Jones
410-222-1401
Email: daryl.jones@aacounty.org

District 2 – Hon. John Grasso
410-222-1401
Email: John.grasso@aacounty.org

District 3 – Hon. Derek Fink
410-222-1401
Email: dfink@aacounty.org

District 4 – Hon. Jamie Benoit
410-222-1401
Email: james.benoit@aacounty.org

District 5 – Hon. Dick Ladd
410-222-1401
Email: dladd@aacounty.org

District 6 – Hon. Chris Trumbauer
410-222-1401
Email: ctrumbauer@aacounty.org

District 7 – Hon. Jerry Walker
410-222-1401
Email: jerry.walker@aacounty.org

Mission Statement: Maryland Shall Issue is an all volunteer, non-partisan effort dedicated to the preservation and advancement of all gunowners’ rights in Maryland, with a primary goal of CCW reform to allow all law-abiding citizens the right to carry a concealed weapon; and to the education of the community to the awareness that ‘shall issue’ laws have, in all cases, resulted in decreased rates of violent crime.

Filed under: Gun Rights News, Shooting Industry News by Ammoland 3 Comments »