Maryland has enacted strong gun safety laws, though some of this lifesaving progress is undermined by guns trafficked in from states with weaker laws.
Since 2018, Maryland has allowed a family member, law enforcement officer, or mental health professional to petition courts for extreme risk protection orders to temporarily disarm an individual in crisis. In 2021, Maryland had the 22nd lowest rate of gun deaths among the states. Far more crime guns are trafficked into Maryland than out of the state. In 2021, Maryland imported crime guns from other states at the fourth highest rate in the nation, and the state imported more than six times as many crime guns as it exported.
What Maryland Does Well
- Universal background checks
- Licensing
- Extreme risk protection orders
- Certain domestic violence gun laws
- Assault weapon restrictions
- Large capacity magazine ban
- Strong concealed carry law
- Certain open carry regulations
- Child access prevention laws
- Ghost gun regulations
- Location restrictions
- Some investments in community violence intervention
What Maryland Is Missing
- Gaps in domestic violence laws
- Strong firearm relinquishment laws
- Victims’ access to justice law
SPOTLIGHT
GUN LAW SCORECARD
The data is clear: states with stronger gun laws have less gun violence. See how your state compares in our annual ranking.
Read MoreEXPLORE MARYLAND’S GUN LAWS
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OWNER RESPONSIBILITIES
CHILD & CONSUMER SAFETY
GUNS IN PUBLIC
HARDWARE & AMMUNITION
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We’re in this together. To build a safer America—one where children and parents in every neighborhood can learn, play, work, and worship without fear of gun violence—we need you standing beside us in this fight.
