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Gun Violence and the 2025 Session
HB 387 - Comprehensive Community Safety Funding Act - Unfortunately, this bill did not pass in the 2024 legislative session, so it is back as HB 387 this year. This bill would direct some funds from the purchase of guns or ammunition to fund assistance to communities impacted by gun violence. We anticipate that the sponsors will simplify some of the requirements, and reintroduce this bill in 2025.
SB 943\HB 1050 - Family and Law Enforcement Protection Act: Guns are a contentious issue in cases of Domestic Violence. The requirements for a domestic abuser to relinquish a firearm are not clear. Who requests that the firearm be relinquished? Who enforces the requirement to relinquish the firearm?
The barriers to safety and justice faced by survivors of domestic violence are multifaceted and deeply entrenched. From systemic discrimination and victim-blaming to the lack of effective enforcement of firearm relinquishment laws, these challenges leave survivors, particularly women of color and LGBTQIA+ individuals, at heightened risk. For More Information, Read the Safe Haven Policy Paper
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SB 444 - Public Safety - Gun Buyback Programs - Destruction of Firearms - This bill requires a person or entity operating a gun buyback program to destroy a firearm, including every component and part attached to the firearm, that is traded in at a gun buyback program; the destruction must make the firearm, and every component and part attached to the firearm, permanently inoperable and unrepairable. Currently, there is nothing to prevent a gun buyback program from reselling the firearms.
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SB 443 - Trafficking Regulated Firearms - Felony Classification - This bill would reclassify the prohibition against transporting a regulated firearm into the State for the purpose of unlawfully selling or trafficking the firearm as a felony and establish a penalty on conviction of imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine of up to $25,000 or both.
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HB 1287 - Prohibit 3-D Printed "Switches": There are various aspects in our laws that continue to need additional attention. While we have prohibited "Automatic Weapons" and "Bump Stocks" (which convert a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic weapon), technology is always adapting. 3-D printers can make “switches”—a plastic part that can convert a standard firearm into a rapid fire weapon.
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OPPORTUNITIES to get involved
The GVP Issue Lead welcomes individuals to join the GVP team. Individuals can follow one of
the priority issues in order to monitor: (a) committee hearings, (b) monitor monitor amendments proposed to chang the initial text of a bill, and (c) UULM-MD communications and discussions on the issue.
The GVP welcomes support for outreach to interfaith partners. We are more successful when
we have common purpose with other partners.
Subject | Bill Number | XFile Bill Number | Sponsor | Title | Status | Current Location | Priority | Position | Action | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Armed Trespass by Retired Police | HB0308 | SB0585 | Delegate Bartlett | Criminal Law - Exception to Armed Trespass Prohibition - Retired Law Enforcement Officials | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judiciary | x | Oppose | Establishing an exception to the prohibition against entering or trespassing on real property while wearing, carrying, or transporting a firearm for a retired law enforcement official who has retired in good standing from a law enforcement agency of the United States, the State or another state, or a local unit in the State or another state under certain circumstances. | |
Armed Trespass by Retired Police | SB0585 | HB0308 | Senator Waldstreicher | Criminal Law - Exception to Armed Trespass Prohibition - Retired Law Enforcement Officials | Failed-no vote on 2nd reading | House Floor | x | Oppose | Establishing an exception to the prohibition against entering or trespassing on real property while wearing, carrying, or transporting a firearm for a retired law enforcement official who has retired in good standing from a law enforcement agency of the United States, the State or another state, or a local unit in the State or another state under certain circumstances. | |
Assisted Outpatient Tx Respondents | HB0592 | SB0509 | Delegate Phillips | Prohibited Possession of Firearms - Assisted Outpatient Treatment Respondents | Failed-no vote in opposite committee | Judicial Proceedings | Prohibiting a person from possessing a regulated firearm, rifle, or shotgun if the person is currently a respondent subject to a court order to comply with certain assisted outpatient treatment; and requiring a court to promptly report certain information through a certain data portal if the court orders a person to comply with certain assisted outpatient treatment. | |||
Assisted Outpatient Tx Respondents | SB0509 | HB0592 | Senator Henson | Prohibited Possession of Firearms - Assisted Outpatient Treatment Respondents | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judicial Proceedings | Prohibiting a person from possessing a regulated firearm, rifle, or shotgun if the person is currently a respondent subject to a court order to comply with certain assisted outpatient treatment; and requiring a court to promptly report certain information through a certain data portal if the court orders a person to comply with certain assisted outpatient treatment. | |||
Center for Firearm Violence Prevention | HB0934 | Delegate Lopez | Center for Firearm Violence Prevention and Intervention - Resources, Tools, and Educational Materials | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judiciary | Altering the powers of the Center for Firearm Violence Prevention and Intervention to include the creation of certain resources, tools, and educational materials related to firearms; and authorizing the Center to consult with State and local agencies and third-party organizations in carrying out those powers. | ||||
Child's Access to Firearms-Penalty | SB1031 | Senator Attar | Criminal Law - Child's Access to Firearms - Penalty (Ny'Kala Strawder Act) | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judicial Proceedings | Increasing the penalty to up to 5 years of imprisonment or a fine or both for storing or leaving a loaded firearm in a location where the person knew or should have known that an unsupervised minor has access to the firearm. | ||||
Community Safety Funding | HB0387 | Delegate Mireku-North | Comprehensive Community Safety Funding Act | Failed-no vote in original committee | Ways and Means | x | Support | Imposing an excise tax on certain gross receipts of certain firearms dealers derived from the sales of firearms in the State and sales of firearms to residents of the State; etc. | ||
Controlled Sustances and Firearms | HB0413 | SB0925 | Delegate Moon | Criminal Law - Controlled Dangerous Substances and Firearms | Approved by the Governor - Chapter 136 | Authorizing a person who is at least 21 years of age to manufacture a personal use amount of cannabis products or concentrated cannabis for personal use or adult sharing at a private residence if the manufacturing process does not involve the use of a volatile solvent; specifying that manufacturing, distributing, dispensing, or possessing certain large quantities of certain controlled dangerous substances is a felony; altering the penalties for being a volume dealer and drug kingpin with regard to cannabis; etc. | ||||
Controlled Sustances and Firearms | SB0925 | HB0413 | Senator Smith | Criminal Law - Controlled Dangerous Substances and Firearms | Failed-not assigned to opposite standing committee | Rules and Executive Nominations | Authorizing a person who is at least 21 years of age to manufacture a personal use amount of cannabis products or concentrated cannabis for personal use or adult sharing at a private residence if the manufacturing process does not involve the use of a volatile solvent; specifying that manufacturing, distributing, dispensing, or possessing certain large quantities of certain controlled dangerous substances is a felony; altering the penalties for being a volume dealer and drug kingpin with regard to cannabis; etc. | |||
Convertible Pistols - switch/auto–sear | HB1287 | Delegate Williams | Criminal Law - Firearm Crimes - Convertible Pistols | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judiciary | x | Support | Prohibiting a person from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, purchasing, receiving, or transferring a certain convertible pistol; and defining 'convertible pistol' as any semiautomatic pistol that can be converted into a machine gun solely by the attachment of a switch/auto-sear. | ||
Family and Law Enforcement Protection | HB1050 | SB0943 | Delegate Bartlett | Family Law - Protective Orders - Surrender of Firearms | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judiciary | x | Support | Altering and establishing provisions relating to the surrender of firearms by a respondent under the domestic violence statutes; creating the Task Force to Study the Use of Firearms in Domestic Violence Situations; and requiring the Task Force to submit a report on its recommendations on or before November 15, 2025. | |
Family and Law Enforcement Protection | SB0943 | HB1050 | Senator Hettleman | Family and Law Enforcement Protection Act | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judicial Proceedings | x | Support | Altering and establishing provisions relating to the surrender of firearms by a respondent under the domestic violence statutes; creating the Task Force to Study the Use of Firearms in Domestic Violence Situations; and requiring the Task Force to submit a report on its recommendations on or before November 15, 2025. | |
Gun Theft Felony Act | HB0982 | SB0336 | Delegate Schmidt | Gun Theft Felony Act of 2025 | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judiciary | Classifying the theft of a firearm as a felony; establishing a penalty for a first conviction for theft of a firearm of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or a fine not exceeding $1,000 or both; and establishing a penalty for subsequent convictions of imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or a fine not exceeding $2,500 or both. | |||
Gun Theft Felony Act | SB0336 | HB0982 | Senator Ready | Gun Theft Felony Act of 2025 | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judicial Proceedings | Classifying the theft of a firearm as a felony; and establishing a penalties for a first conviction of imprisonment of up to 5 years or a fine of up to $1,000 or both, and for subsequent convictions, imprisonment not to exceed 10 years or a fine of up to $2,500 or both, for theft of a firearm. | |||
Gun buy-back Programs | SB0444 | Senator Smith | Public Safety - Gun Buyback Programs - Destruction of Firearms | Failed-no vote on 2nd reading | House Floor | x | Support | Requiring a federal firearms licensee or law enforcement agency operating a gun buyback program to destroy each firearm and all its components and parts, that is traded in as part of a gun buyback program; authorizing a certain person or entity to contract with a law enforcement agency or a business to destroy certain firearms; requiring a law enforcement agency operating a gun buyback program to make certain efforts to determine whether a firearm is a crime firearm or has been reported lost or stolen before destroying the weapon; etc. | ||
Handgun Permit Repeal | HB0353 | Delegate Grammer | Public Safety - Handgun Permit Requirement - Repeal (Maryland's Constitutional Carry Act of 2025) | Unfavorable Report by Judiciary | Oppose | Repealing the requirement that a person have a certain permit before the person carries, wears, or transports a handgun; repealing certain criminal prohibitions against a person who is at least 21 years old wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun; and establishing that a person may not wear, carry, or transport a handgun while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, with a penalty of imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or a fine not exceeding $1,000 or both on conviction. | ||||
Literature for Firearm/Ammo Purchasers | HB0713 | SB0577 | Delegate Simmons | Public Safety - Distribution of Literature to Purchasers of Firearms and Ammunition | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judiciary | Support | Requiring the Maryland Department of Health to prepare certain literature relating to firearms and ammunition and to distribute the literature to all county health departments in the State; requiring each county health department to distribute certain literature to all establishments that sell firearms or ammunition within the county; requiring establishments that sell firearms or ammunition in the State to make certain literature visible and available and to distribute the literature to purchasers of firearms and ammunition; etc. | ||
Literature for Firearm/Ammo Purchasers | SB0577 | HB0713 | Senator Lam | Public Safety - Distribution of Literature to Purchasers of Firearms and Ammunition | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judicial Proceedings | Support | Requiring the Maryland Department of Health to prepare certain literature relating to firearms and ammunition and to distribute the literature to all county health departments in the State; requiring each county health department to distribute certain literature to all establishments that sell firearms or ammunition within the county; requiring establishments that sell firearms or ammunition in the State to make certain literature visible and available and to distribute the literature to purchasers of firearms and ammunition; etc. | ||
Minor's Access to Firearms-Penalty | HB1513 | Delegate Ebersole | Public Schools - School Security Personnel - Prohibition of Immigration Investigation and Enforcement Functions | Failed-no vote in original committee | Ways and Means | Prohibiting an individual assigned to be a school resource officer or a school security employee from being used for purposes of or otherwise engaging in certain federal immigration investigation and enforcement functions. | ||||
Penalties for Wear/Carry/Transport | HB0354 | Delegate Grammer | Criminal Law - Prohibitions on Wearing, Carrying, or Transporting a Handgun - Penalties | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judiciary | Oppose | Establishing a certain intent element for wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun in certain prohibited places; repealing a certain rebuttable presumption that a person transporting a handgun under certain circumstances transports the handgun knowingly; and altering certain penalty provisions related to wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun in certain prohibited places. | |||
Private Suits Against Firearm Industry | HB1158 | Delegate Phillips | Civil Actions Against Firearm Industry Members - Private Right of Action | Unfavorable Report by Judiciary; Withdrawn | Support | Authorizing persons who suffer injury or loss to bring an action against a firearm industry member for certain unlawful or unreasonable conduct. | ||||
Right to Carry | HB0336 | SB0994 | Delegate Grammer | Firearms - Right to Purchase, Own, Possess, and Carry | Failed-no vote in original committee | Judiciary | Oppose | Providing that a person may not be denied the right to purchase, own, possess, or carry a firearm solely on the basis that the person is authorized to use medical cannabis. | ||
Right to Carry | SB0994 | HB0336 | Senator Salling | Firearms - Right to Purchase, Own, Possess, and Carry | Failed-not referred to a standing committee | Rules | Oppose | Providing that a person may not be denied the right to purchase, own, possess, or carry a firearm solely on the basis that the person is authorized to use medical cannabis. | ||
School Resource Officers - Firearms | SB0644 | Senator Jennings | Public Schools - School Resource Officers - Firearms Required | Failed-no vote in original committee | Education, Energy, and the Environment | Oppose | Requiring a Baltimore City school police officer and a school resource officer to carry a firearm while present on the premises of the school to which the officer is assigned. | |||
Study of Deadly Weapons in Schools | HB0782 | Delegate Atterbeary | Study on Detecting Deadly Weapons in Public Middle and High Schools | Approved by the Governor - Chapter 244 | Requiring the Maryland Center for School Safety to study how best to detect deadly weapons in public middle and high schools and how best to rapidly report the detection of weapons to a law enforcement agency; requiring the Center to request any available assessment technologies evaluated under the Act; and requiring the Center to issue an interim report by December 1, 2025, and a final report on the findings of the study, in a manner that does not jeopardize school safety, by December 1, 2026. | |||||
Tax credit for gun safety devices | HB0250 | Delegate Vogel | Income Tax - Credit for Firearm Safety Devices | Failed-no vote in original committee | Ways and Means | Support | Allowing a credit against the State income tax for the purchase of certain firearm safety devices in an amount equal to the lesser of 100% of the purchase price or $200 during the taxable year; allowing an individual to carry over any excess credit to the next taxable year; requiring the Comptroller to establish a process to issue tax credit certificates; limiting the aggregate allowable amount of credits to $250,000 for any taxable year; and applying the Act to all taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024. | |||
Taxes-Firearms, Accessories, Ammunition | HB0937 | Delegate Young | Sales and Use Tax - Firearms, Firearm Accessories, and Ammunition - Rate Alteration | Unfavorable Report by Ways and Means; Withdrawn | Increasing the sales and use tax rate for sales of firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition from 6% to 12%. | |||||
Trafficking stolen guns | SB0443 | Senator Smith | Trafficking Regulated Firearms - Felony Classification | Approved by the Governor - Chapter 465 | x | Support | Requiring that the prosecution for an offense of trafficking a regulated firearm be instituted within 3 years after the offense was committed; reclassifying the prohibition against transporting a regulated firearm into the State for the purpose of unlawfully selling or trafficking the firearm to be a felony; and establishing a penalty on conviction of imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine of up to $25,000 or both. | |||
Transporting Firearm in Checked Bag | HB0916 | Delegate Amprey | Criminal Law - Weapon Crimes - Transporting Firearm in Checked Bag on Public Transportation | Unfavorable Report by Judiciary; Withdrawn | Prohibiting a person from transporting a firearm in a checked bag on public transportation in the State unless the firearm is disabled from discharging by an external safety lock; and defining 'external safety lock' as a device attached to a firearm with a key or combination lock and designed to prevent a firearm from being discharged unless the device has been deactivated. |
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