Marlyand Carry Permit - Worth the Effort/Cost to Apply?

So I recently purchased a vacation home in Maryland and I expect to be spending more time there than I already do. I’m thinking about applying for a carry permit, but my understanding is that they are especially difficult to obtain. I don’t have any “special reason” to apply for one - apparently my life isn’t important enough to defend if I’m ever faced with a lethal threat. Anyway, I know there is a training requirement and I believe application fees, etc. Has anyone without a “special reason” been able to successfully obtain a permit? Does being a non-resident make it even more difficult? Aside from getting the second home, I live just a few minutes from the Maryland border and drive through there often, and have to remember to store my firearm if I’m taking it with me. There have even been times when I wasn’t planning to drive through the state, but got re-routed by my navigation app and had to go a different way because I had my firearm on me.

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No, it would be highly unlikely that you could obtain a carry permit. On the Maryland State Police site it states specifically, of the seven points listed, “6. Has a good and substantial reason​ (sic) to wear, carry, or transport a handgun, such as finding that the permit is necessary as a reasonable precaution against danger.”

John Lott’s report, shows that , Maryland has only, as of June 30, 2020, there are 27,760 permit holders with about 6 million total residents. Virginia, for example, has, as of July 1, 2020, about 681,000 permit holders (638K resident, 43K non-resident) with about 8.6 million residents.

I have my CCW in MD (live There). Good and substantial is basically owning a business or rental properties. You said vacation home, would you be looking to rent this when not there? Could be your reason

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Why, then, is the permit number/rate so low?

Hmm, yes, actually it will primarily be a rental property. That seems ridiculous to me, but maybe that would make it worthwhile to try. I thought it would be something like having received death threats or have a restraining order against someone. I was reading about the requirements in some state recently - NJ maybe? - that you actually must have already been a victim of an attempted threat of death or grave bodily harm. So I figured it would have to be something along those lines.

Not sure. I wasn’t going to try assuming it was impossible but when I went for my HQL the instructor told me I should not have any problem so I went ahead with the 16 hour class. 90 days later I was approved. Someone told me based on the “good and substantial” hardly anyone applies, but not as unachievable as most think if you have ownership in a business or have rental properties. I live up near Pennsylvania, it took 24 hours to get PA once I had MD. I am now 30 days into DC. Should get DC in November

Interesting, I’ll keep that in mind. HQL is just to purchase, correct? Just curious - where did you go for yours in PA? I applied in Adams County because Gettysburg was the shortest drive from Northern VA to pick it up and get my photo taken. I submitted my application on a Friday afternoon and got the approval email on Monday morning. They’re fast! Just wondering if that’s typical or if it’s just Adams County. It’s annoying that they don’t honor VA permits even though VA honors theirs, but at least they make it fairly easy for non-residents (assuming you can get a permit in your home state).
I’ve been thinking about DC but not crazy about the idea of having to register my firearm. I understand that Delaware is a difficult process but they honor Utah permits, so I’m planning on getting that in the near future.

They are fast, although I had a friend waited a few weeks for Adams County. I went to York County and was approved for pick up the next day. I live just below Hanover PA in MD. I work in the Baltimore MD, DC, Northern VA area and shop and have family in PA. I too thought about Utah to close up DE, but don’t see me going that way. I used to live in the Harford County MD and would be in DE occasionally and traveled through Dover when heading to the ocean, but no more. DC honored my MD training/qualification. I did have to take a DC law class and go through fingerprinting and such. They are “shall issue” so it’s just the wait now. I did register one gun.

It makes sense that they would be fast for the non-resident permits, since they require you to provide your resident permit from your home state. It’s nice that they don’t require additional training on top of the resident permit - Utah requires your resident permit as well as their own training. If I decide to pursue the Maryland one (and possibly DC) in addition to Utah, I’ll have to see whether I can use the same training towards multiple applications. I’m in Delaware pretty frequently, either while I’m in the Ocean City, MD shore area, or just driving through on my way to OC, or to PA where I have family.

So I took a class recently for a D.C. and Utah permit. The instructor said the course content would also count toward the MD training requirement (plus a bit of MD-specific topics and an additional fee), but his advice was that while owning a business/rental property situation is often enough for your “good reason” in MD’s permit scheme, in his experience it’s normally also contingent on handling cash as part of that, which really wouldn’t apply for me. Given the potential for a favorable outcome in the NYSPRA case in the near future, I think I’m going to hold off on applying for a while and see what SCOTUS does with that and whether it would change MD’s process. I’m going through enough expense and hassle applying for the D.C. permit, but at least with that one I know I’ll end up getting it.

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