Registering Old Handgun - Maryland

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mattttt25

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I possess a 1941 German Luger. Have been a resident of Maryland prior to 2013. By law, do I need to register this gun?

Also, is there anything illegal with owning a gun of this type? If I chose to voluntarily register it (depending on answer to my first question), would I have any problems with the State Police?

Thanks in advance-
 
Talk to a FFL holder in your area. Maryland gun laws have really gotten tighter. If you were in New York State I could tell you what you would need to do, which would not be any fun.

Bob
 
NO YOU DO NOT.

Gun registration in MD was voluntary, you only registered if you wanted to.
NEW purchases are different as of the beginning of 2015, but "old possession" prior to that date is not. Transfers must be done via the state police as they are the sole contact point for things like NICS.

If you decide to transfer it after that date then the new purchaser is required to register it & take a new, expanded safety course & have "livescanned fingerprints" because the date is a cut off point.

There is a specific list of "banned handguns" if the Luger is on that list then no, but I sincerely doubt it its, just check the list in CoMar for an item check.
 
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Is there a shoulder stock?

mattttt25 said:
Also, is there anything illegal with owning a gun of this type?
Click to expand...
This is a rather broad question, but I'll mention one thing in particular.

A Luger pistol together with a shoulder stock is considered to be a Short Barreled Rifle (SBR) under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA), unless it's one of a handful of specifically exempted pistol and correct original shoulder stock combinations listed in the ATF Curio or Relic List (Section III, pp. 35-36).

Possession of an unregistered NFA weapon is a serious federal crime and may be illegal under state law as well, although I'm not familiar with MD law in this regard. If this is what you have, I recommend quietly dropping off the Internet and hiring a good lawyer. :eek:

That said, please note that I wrote "together with a shoulder stock" in my opening paragraph. Contrary to decades-old misinformation, it is NOT against the law to possess a Luger pistol that is merely capable of accepting a shoulder stock, which is a Good Thing, because all (or nearly all) Lugers were manufactured with a stock lug; it's the double-slot thingy on the back of the grip. :) Unfortunately, back in the day before many people understood the NFA (i.e. generally prior to the 1980s), this misinformation prompted many Luger owners to have the stock lug ground off "to make it legal", thus ruining the collector value of their pistol to some degree, for no good reason. :rolleyes: It is also NOT against the law to merely OWN a Luger shoulder stock, including a reproduction.

The trouble starts when the pistol and a (non-exempt) stock are together, even if they're not actually attached to each other, or if you possess both items with the INTENT to put them together. Intent is a legal grey area that depends largely on case law. The safest course of action, and the one I would recommend, is NOT to possess a non-exempt shoulder stock at all, unless you intend to go through the NFA registration and approval process (which is a whole 'nuther can of worms).

Mandatory disclaimer: I am not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV. ;) This is not legal advice. Caveat emptor and YMMV.
 
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The Luger "stock lug" was also used to hold the pistol frame in a bench fixture during assembly and repairs. Which is why nearly all Lugers have them, even if they were never intended to stocked.

The kind folks at the ATF have changed their point of view on what is, and isn't legal several times over the years, and it is an area that needs careful study to ensure compliance with current interpretations. best to avoid stocked pistols in general, unless you are willing to commit the effort to be certain you don't break any laws.
 
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