Maryland General Assembly Overrides Gov. Hogan’s Veto of FFL Mandate Bill
NSSF® is disappointed to notify you of the Maryland General Assembly’s recent decision to override Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of House Bill 1021. HB 1021 will mandate a “one-size-fits-all” approach for how licensed dealers must secure their businesses and store their firearms. Businesses not complying will face fines, suspensions of licenses, and even revocation of licenses. Licensed dealers will only have about six months to comply with the requirements. The bill goes far beyond the intended target of just “gun shops,” and will affect licensed dealers and gunsmiths who work from their home, as well as manufacturers and distributors. HB 1021 punishes law-abiding businesses rather than holding criminals accountable for breaking into licensed firearm dealers and stealing firearms.
As we reported previously, HB 1021 was hastily ushered through the Senate with no opportunity for input from the industry or the public. Knowing the Senate was moving the bill quickly, NSSF worked with Republican Senator Michael Hough and other Senate members to craft and offer amendments on the floor of the Senate that were friendly in nature, and would not have undermined the intent of the bill. These amendments would have created more options for businesses to comply with the bill by using security measures that are already utilized by our industry members. Unfortunately, proponents of the bill wanted to see the bill rushed through the Senate in record time, so these ideas were rejected. We learned after the fact that the bill was moved so quickly through the Senate in order to get it to the Governor and override his veto before the General Assembly adjourned its legislative session for the year.
NSSF will now turn its efforts to the Maryland State Police, the agency tasked with crafting the rules and regulations associated with HB 1021. The new law will take effect on October 1, 2022.
We thank Gov. Hogan for vetoing this misguided legislation, the elected officials who worked with us and voted against this ill-advised policy, and most importantly, NSSF thanks its members for heeding our calls to action on this issue. We will keep you updated as the rulemaking process progresses.
