March 24,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The handgun used in a shooting at a Maryland high school was legally owned by the gunman’s father, authorities said Wednesday. A reader replied to the sad story ,“I don’t understand. If a law was passed to outlaw a 17 year old from owning a gun how ever did he have a gun? He was breaking the law? What about the gun free school laws? Do you think he broke those too? How crazy is that?!? Why, if people keep breaking laws like that, how are we ever to keep our schools safe? I’m confused.”
Maryland generally prohibits any person under age 21 from possessing any “regulated firearm” (handgun or assault weapon).1 Maryland also prohibits any person from transferring a regulated firearm to a transferee who the person knows or has reasonable cause to believe is under 21 years of age.
Maryland also prohibits any person from selling, renting or transferring ammunition for a regulated firearm to a person under age 21, or any ammunition to a person under age 18.3 Maryland also prohibits the sale or transfer of a rifle or shotgun to a person under age 18.
Maryland law provides that a person “may not store or leave a loaded firearm in a location where the person knew or should have known that an unsupervised child would gain access to the firearm.”1 This section does not apply if:
The child’s access is supervised by an individual age 18 or older;
The child’s access was obtained as a result of unlawful entry;
The firearm is in the possession or control of a law enforcement officer while the officer is engaged in official duties; or
The child has a certificate of firearm and hunter safety.2
State administrative regulations may impose storage requirements in certain locations.
Federal law :
Dealers may not sell or deliver a handgun or ammunition for a handgun to any person the dealer has reasonable cause to believe is under age 21.
Unlicensed persons may not sell, deliver or otherwise transfer a handgun or handgun ammunition to any person the transferor knows or has reasonable cause to believe is under age 18, with certain exceptions
