One-Pager Published August 6, 2013 Updated August 6, 2013

A Tale of Two Laws: Online Gun Sales in MD & VA

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Maryland law requires background checks for private sales of handguns and assault weapons; Virginia law does not. As a result, there is a huge difference in the number of guns available for sale online in each state—in Maryland, fewer than 300 guns are available for sale by private sellers, and all transactions will have to take place at either a licensed gun dealer’s store or at a law enforcement agency, where a background check can be run prior to completing the sale. In Virginia, nearly 2000 guns are available for sale by private sellers—including more than 600 semi-automatic weapons—and none of those transactions require a background check under state or federal law.

State or City	Maryland	Baltimore	Virginia	Richmond
Number of for sale listings by private sellers	279	101	1915	252
Number of semiautomatics for sale by private sellers	109	35	646	62
Number of want ad listings for private sellers	51	18	259	28
Number of people selling 4 or more guns	20	7	182	37
Largest quantity of guns being advertised by single seller	15	7	16	8
Number of Gun Shows 7/11-12/31/13	7		41
Number of FFLs	3,107		4,376
Background Check required at gun shows or private sales?	Yes (for handguns and assault weapons)		No