Maryland’s highest court has overturned a state law banning the removal or alteration of serial numbers from firearms, a decision prompting public safety concerns among gun control advocates who say the tool is crucial to tracking crimes involving weapons. When state lawmakers amended Maryland’s firearms law in 2003, they failed to outline the penalty for changing or removing a gun’s serial number, the Court of Appeals of Maryland ruled in a newly released opinion — a clerical error, that according to the court, means such an action is “not a crime.”
“When an individual is convicted pursuant to a charge that does not constitute a crime, that conviction must be reversed and the sentence vacated,” the judges said.
And now some analysts are concerned how the ruling will affect weapons investigations across Maryland.
“Part of the reason [serial numbers] are so important is that it is extremely difficult to trace guns,” said Daniel Vice, senior attorney for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. “It’s not like on TV where it’s easy to trace it back to the owner. This could make it more difficult for prosecutors at the state level.”
However, state lawmakers say legislation slated to go into effect this fall would correct the procedural error and limit the number of appeals made in the wake of the court decision. Removing or altering a serial number on a weapon is still considered a federal crime.
Prince George’s County resident Leroy Evans Jr., who brought the case to the appeals court, successfully overturned his conviction for altering a weapon’s serial numbers. However, he was jailed on a variety of drugs and weapons charges carrying more serious penalties than the overturned charge.
Officials in Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler’s office say the case in question mirrors the overwhelming majority of those charged for such an offense. In other words, if such a charge were overturned, a prisoner would likely remain in jail for another crime, they said.
Law enforcement officials from Maryland’s Washington-area suburbs also said the court decision would not affect their investigations.
“The law or lack of a law doesn’t change investigative techniques,” said Montgomery County police spokesman Howard Hersh, noting that a variety of strategies are needed to determine who possessed a gun after the original owner.
