(PIKESVILLE, MD) \u2013 As applications for Maryland Wear and Carry Permits continue to be received in unprecedented numbers, the Maryland Department of State Police (MDSP) Licensing Division is issuing the following information to help applicants navigate through the online application process on the Licensing Portal.<\/p>\n
Pursuant to the recent Supreme Court ruling, on July 5, 2022 Governor Larry Hogan directed the Maryland State Police to suspend the \u2018good and substantial reason\u2019 standard to wear, carry or transport a regulated firearm on your person. Before you may legally wear and carry a regulated firearm, you must possess, and maintain on your person at all times, the Maryland State Police issued Handgun Wear and Carry Permit.\u00a0Submission of the application does not authorize you to wear, carry, or transport a handgun.<\/strong>\u00a0 Maryland law does not recognize handgun carry permits issued by any other state. \u00a0Further, Maryland law does not authorize the State to enter into reciprocity agreements with any other states concerning the recognition of out-of-state handgun carry permits.<\/p>\n Many things have changed regarding documentation requirements to complete the application process. In Maryland, wear and carry permit applicants are still required to meet the training and fingerprinting requirements for approval of their application.\u00a0 The suspension of the \u201cGood and Substantial Reason\u201d requirement does not change any <\/strong>other aspect in the review of applications for the issuance of a Maryland Wear and Carry Permit.<\/p>\n Personnel in the Maryland State Police Licensing Division continue to work extended hours to promptly investigate and approve those eligible for a wear and carry permit, while ensuring those prohibited by law are not approved. \u00a0All required documentation, including the digital passport-sized photograph, certificate of training or documentation of exemption, and a \u201cLive Scan\u201d fingerprint receipt, is required to be uploaded by the applicant prior <\/strong>to submission of the application. \u00a0<\/p>\n A common error applicants make while working through the process in the Licensing Portal includes the upload of expired fingerprints. Fingerprints must be taken within 1 year of the date of application submission, and the fingerprint provider must be approved by the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. A list of approved fingerprint offices can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another common error that applicants make includes meeting the approved training requirements. Training must be completed within two years of submitting the application. Wear and Carry Permit training requires\u00a016 hours<\/strong>\u00a0of instruction for an\u00a0original<\/strong>\u00a0application and\u00a08 hours<\/strong>\u00a0of instruction for a\u00a0renewal<\/strong>\u00a0application.\u00a0More information on exemptions and where to receive training by an approved certified handgun instructor can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Failure to upload documents required to complete the permit background investigation at the time of submission prolongs the application process. Acceptable document formats include:<\/p>\n Applicants are required to have a valid email account, and create an account in the MDSP Licensing Division online portal, before submitting an application.\u00a0 Applicants who already have a Licensing Division online portal account will not be required to create a new one. Those applicants with an existing online portal account will continue to use their current 77R portal account login credentials to access the Licensing Division portal.<\/p>\n Please note that Licensing Division cannot begin processing your application until the application fee has been paid electronically at the time of application submission on the Licensing Portal. Once payment has been credited to your application, your application will be reviewed by the Handgun Permit Section for completeness of all required information. If your application is missing any of the required information or documentation, your application will be returned to you, via the Licensing Portal, for correction\/addition of the items noted. When the application is complete, you will receive an email notification stating that your application status has changed to “Application Accepted” and that processing of it has begun.\u00a0<\/p>\n Paper Wear and Carry Permit applications will not be accepted and will be returned to the applicant with instructions to submit the Wear and Carry Permit application via the Licensing Portal.<\/p>\n The online system is designed to keep the applicant informed at every step of the process.\u00a0 The applicant will receive the following email notifications: Application submitted, Application accepted, Application requires corrections (referred to as \u201cshortages\u201d), Application is assigned to a background investigator, and Final disposition has been made on the application.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0For those applying for a Maryland Wear and Carry Permit (original or renewals), the MDSP Licensing Division has a mandated window of 90\u00a0days\u00a0to act on a wear and carry permit.\u00a0 Typically, the processing time, prior to the recent surge in applications, was approximately\u00a030-60\u00a0days depending on the type of permit; however, with the influx of applications, the processing time could take longer than the\u00a060-day\u00a0average.<\/p>\n The MDSP Licensing Portal is designed to give the applicant the ability to see the most current status of their application and allow the Maryland State Police Licensing Division to send automated email notifications, follow-up, and reminder correspondence.<\/p>\n For additional information, please visit our website by clicking at: MDSP Licensing Division<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>###<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n CONTACT:\u00a0 Office of Media Communications, msp.media@maryland.gov<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (PIKESVILLE, MD) \u2013 As applications for Maryland Wear and Carry Permits continue to be received in unprecedented numbers, the Maryland Department of State Police (MDSP) Licensing Division is issuing the following information to help applicants navigate through the online application process on the Licensing Portal. Pursuant to the recent Supreme Court ruling, on July 5, Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25210"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25220,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25210\/revisions\/25220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n