My County, Montgomery, and the neighboring metropolis known as the District of Columbia, forbid the subjects that reside in their fiefdoms from ordering ammunition from going catalog supply concerns.
I can’t order 50 rounds of .38 for home delivery.
The vast majority of the rest of the nation has no such restriction. Including all the people allowed to order ammo in the rest of my state. (Except maybe Baltimore… but I’m not sure…)
And I live kinda close to DC, so I have to travel the furthest, maybe, to get a house that can accept a package that has bullets in it.
Needless to say, this is inconvenient for me.
And it appears nefarious!
Here I am, looking like I am trying to skirt the law, setting up mail drops at friends and acquaintence’s houses, and having surreptitious packages delivered to remote-to-me jusridictions that I then have to pay the homeowner for, in cash. (I can’t use my credit card online to have something shipped to an address not the same as my billing address without jumping through MORE hoops. I tried that with computer equipment and it was a hassle, even.) All this dark enterprise is missing is passwords and countersigns.
And its not even black market. Not really even light gray.
It’s not illegal. Just inconvenient.
And that’s the purpose of the law. Oh sure, the county powers that instituted it CLAIMED it was for safety. All that ‘explosive’ intermingling with mail like enterprises… Ignoring the millions of rounds delivered with no mishap. No the real purpose of the law is to inconvenience folk. To make people less capable to be interested in shooting because of the hassle involved. The same with LOTS of anti-firearms legislation. It’s all of a kind.
Those powers that be in my county are of the lefty persuasion, universally. And leftists are well known for their anti-civil-rights stance when it comes to ordinary people desiring to defend themselves from thugs or bullies.
It was a little law they were allowed to do without stepping on the State’s toes. The State Legislature isn’t AS lefty, politically, as my County, and reserve the right to be in charge of the state’s gun policies. The County argues this is a front stoop neighborhood safety policy. Or that is the word on the street.
I can’t order 50 rounds of .38 for home delivery.
The vast majority of the rest of the nation has no such restriction. Including all the people allowed to order ammo in the rest of my state. (Except maybe Baltimore… but I’m not sure…)
And I live kinda close to DC, so I have to travel the furthest, maybe, to get a house that can accept a package that has bullets in it.
Needless to say, this is inconvenient for me.
And it appears nefarious!
Here I am, looking like I am trying to skirt the law, setting up mail drops at friends and acquaintence’s houses, and having surreptitious packages delivered to remote-to-me jusridictions that I then have to pay the homeowner for, in cash. (I can’t use my credit card online to have something shipped to an address not the same as my billing address without jumping through MORE hoops. I tried that with computer equipment and it was a hassle, even.) All this dark enterprise is missing is passwords and countersigns.
And its not even black market. Not really even light gray.
It’s not illegal. Just inconvenient.
And that’s the purpose of the law. Oh sure, the county powers that instituted it CLAIMED it was for safety. All that ‘explosive’ intermingling with mail like enterprises… Ignoring the millions of rounds delivered with no mishap. No the real purpose of the law is to inconvenience folk. To make people less capable to be interested in shooting because of the hassle involved. The same with LOTS of anti-firearms legislation. It’s all of a kind.
Those powers that be in my county are of the lefty persuasion, universally. And leftists are well known for their anti-civil-rights stance when it comes to ordinary people desiring to defend themselves from thugs or bullies.
It was a little law they were allowed to do without stepping on the State’s toes. The State Legislature isn’t AS lefty, politically, as my County, and reserve the right to be in charge of the state’s gun policies. The County argues this is a front stoop neighborhood safety policy. Or that is the word on the street.
All these restriction on ammo delivery are especially noticed now, where brick and mortar purveyors are still pretty sparse in their inventories, I have no recourse to get something simple like .38 Special. Except the aforementioned willingness to seek legal alternatives and home delivery, but just not MY home delivery.
I haven't checked, but I bet delivery of powder and primers are verboten, too.
That sucks... I'm imagining an Ammunition Speak Easy, with a little sliding window in the door through which is uttered the password...
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, the UPS driver doesn't even bother to get my signature when he drops off ammo - even though its marked "small arms ammunition" right there on the box. On occasion, he's even left the box on the porch if I'm not home.
Why don't you go to a gun show in VA and buy yourself a case or two?
ReplyDeleteThere is ammo at gun shows? I seem to remember, in the distant past, that ammo might have been sold at gun shows. Haven't seen any in a while....
ReplyDeleteI do try to do that, when possible, Harp. I was sorta caught short with this .38 range-ammo and defense-ammo shortage
Do some searches on the MDShooters.com forum and you will see that this ordinance is illegal due to state firearm law preemption. Members on the site mail order ammo quite often.
ReplyDeleteCheck out this thread.
http://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=28226&highlight=montgomery+ammo
Powder and Primers incur a $40 (approximately) Hazmat fee. Ammo does not, just shipping charges. I order ammo from Eric the Ammoman (in NJ) and he includes shipping in the price and it's still a good deal.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest you acquire a dropbox at a UPS store, or similar place, outside the restricted area. It's not illegal and have the ammo delivered there. It's not like a firearm. You can transport ammo across state lines.
BTW, around KC, most gunshows have some ammo. Better now than last year when supplies were scarce.
Cool, D! Let me do a test run on that this week.
ReplyDeletewhile it might be difficult and I don't discount that; the Commonwealth of Virginia is right across the river, perhaps you could swap houses with one of Moran's supporters
ReplyDeleteAnd it all ships through the same processing centers before it heads out on the delivery route...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, this is my first visit due to your appearance in the state of gun blogging article...
You know, you're doing your best to convince me that MD is as bad or worse than NJ for gunnies... As far as I can tell, while there are some online vendors who won't ship to NJ, it's not illegal.
ReplyDeleteAmmunition restrictions are ludicrous.
ReplyDeleteI can, if I put my imagination cap on and squint my eyes really really hard, sort of understand for a fleeting second why people would think gun sales restrictions are a good idea. They are wrong of course, but I can almost get where they are coming from.
Ammunition restrictions though - that's fascist no matter how you look at it. IMO an evil even greater than gun sales restrictions.