Driving through DC and Maryland with a gun

[Pro2AInPA]

I'll be driving to Virginia with my Glock 35, lots of ammo, and 20 rounds mags in the car for the VA-MD section match.

What are the laws in DC and Maryland concerning transporting a gun and ammo?

[Steve J]

Proceed with extreme caution. This reference might help, but it is far from definitive and even statutes won't help you with local prejudices. http://www.usacarry.com/maryland_concealed_carry_permit_information.html

Avoid D.C. at all costs. From the same source. Automobile carry: Firearms not registered with the D.C. police may not be brought into the District.

[Rob Boudrie]

FOPA 86 is your friend, but getting lost in a crowd of one can be an even better friend.

[Pro2AInPA]

FOPA 86 is your friend, but getting lost in a crowd of one can be an even better friend.

?

[Ed Deegan]

Virginia you are welcome (you probably aleady know that).

Maryland - No rounds in mags at all, to include dummies. Probably best disassembled. I dont shoot open but I think MD has a 20 round limit.

Gun and mags seperated and locked.

Pack like you are flying and dont go into DC.

[Steve J]

FOPA 86 is your friend, but getting lost in a crowd of one can be an even better friend.

?

Again laws are great, but they won't keep you out of jail or protect your guns from confiscation by ignorant and prejudiced local officials. Hopefully once you have your day in court, but not necessarily before then.

Firearm Owners Protection Act

"Safe passage" provision

One of the law's provisions was that persons traveling from one place to another cannot be arrested for a firearms offense in a state that has strict gun control laws if the traveler is just passing through (short stops for food and gas and presumably overnight stops on long trips excepted) and the firearms and ammunition are not immediately accessible, unloaded and, in the case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the driver’s compartment, in a locked container.[5]

An example of this would be that someone driving from Virginia to a competition in Vermont with a locked hard case containing an unloaded handgun and a box of ammunition in the trunk could not be prosecuted in New Jersey or New York City for illegal possession of a handgun provided that they did not stop in New Jersey or New York for an extended period of time.

Edited April 30, 2010 by Steve J

[DougCarden]

Obey all traffic laws. If stopped you have no compelling reason to tell anyone, even the nice officer, what is in your car in the trunk locked up underneath your suitcase. There will be no reason if you are stopped to give the nice officer a reason to search your car legally, and you are not required to give voluntary consent to search your vehicle either. Just tell them you need to get your location to meet some friends for supper or the like, which is true. Be nice, but polite and tell them that you need to keep going.

Pretty simple stuff, just go to the match and act like a tourist that doesn't have something a politician doesn't like....LOL

Good luck,

DougC

[Pro2AInPA]

Thanks guys. For some reason I was thinking I had to drive through DC to get to VA from here.

[Graham Smith]

I'm a pretty cautious fellow and do more than I need to. Basically, as noted above, you can drive through any state and the district as long as you follow a few simple rules.

I go one step further, I have a locking ammo box for the ammo, a locking case for the pistol and a third locking case for the mags along with my spare parts. Everything goes in the trunk. I also carry a printed route map and something pertaining to where I am going and why.

Here is some additional information:

NRA on Travel with Firearms

Travel thru NJ

NJ Hollow Point Ammo

[BlackBuzzard]

DC is smaller than you might think............look at the map boundaries.

The outer freeway loops for the most part do not go through DC.

BB