Wilson Combat Vicker's Elite 1911 (courtesy thetruthaboutguns.com)

“Legislation pending in the Maryland General Assembly would define a loan of a gun as a transfer,” baltimoresun.com reports. A gaggle of Democratic lawmakers believe the ability to loan a gun to someone without a government permission slip “makes it easier for the bad guys and criminals to get around the background check laws.” Be that as it isn’t . . .

I’m terrible when it comes to lending guns to friends. I’ll do it at the drop of a hat. Why not? If the recipient does something unfortunate with the firearm — a negligent discharge, suicide or a crime — it’s not my fault, right?

Of course, I don’t lend a person a gun if I think any of things are likely to occur. But who knows, really?

What I do know is that I have some cool guns and I like to share cool things with my friends. And so I do. Do you?

Or do you refuse to run the risk of a bad, bad thing?

Do you share the Democratic legislators’ belief that an unexamined firearms “transfer” is such a danger to society that gun owners should be prohibited from loaning a gun without a criminal background check on the person benefitting from their ballistic largesse?

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70 COMMENTS

  1. Depends on the friend and the reason.

    To help a buddy get his NM CCW permit in the largest caliber? Sure, done it. To help the shifty neighbor three doors down, who’s said hello three times in five years, deal with “a little problem around the house?” Not likely.

  2. Nope except at the range. Guns aren’t exactly a car.
    I did however have to co-register my EDC with my business partner and vice a versa in NY. Due to their sucky possession laws.

      • Must be the 347,829th person to request a like button to a comment. Why not lone a mufukin gun to a friend? We must get on the task of purging our government of statist control freaks. I will say it again. Any gun law is unconstitutional.

  3. I lend guns to family and friends. I give guns to family and friends. I’ve given first guns to a lot of people over the years. A .22 is a cheap way to get more POTG. Back when Mosin Nagants could be had for less than 60 bucks I gave those away, too.

    And who gives a flying fuck what the dems think? hillary has just about finished that group off.

    • Shame on me, I am the puniest of puny men, the government told me to kill nearly defenseless people and I obeyed… and now I blame everyone else for my failing, I take no personal moral responsibility… AND I pose as some heroic rebel who would never obey the goverment but instead shoot it out with government agents…

      I should commit suicide for my moral failing, failure to take personal responsibility and hypocrisy…

  6. No, I was an only child and didn’t learn to share, but I will hand one to them if I find an immediate need for an armed friendly sometime. The definition of ‘a friend’ for the purposes of this answer can widen quite a bit depending on the circumstances.

  7. No. Only when I’m at the range or out in the desert plinking because I go home same day with them. With the exception of two people loaning guns to friends, my friends anyway is like loaning money; you’ll either not see it for several months/years or I’ll never see it again or they used it as collateral at a pawn shop for a loan. And no that didn’t happen to me.

    No. What happens to me is people asking me to buy guns, straw purchase for them. Has happened 5-6 times at least to me in the past decade. Of course that’s illegal as hell, I tell not just no but Hell NO, and I have to educate them about the law. My moms friends boyfriend who lives in California tried this with me. Queue 30 minute phone conversation about California and federal law. I’ll give them buying advice, point them in the right direction and maybe even go with them to a couple of my local haunts so they are more comfortable or have someone there not to make a sale. There not felons, just ignorant.

    • Sadly, In california, they draw no distinction between ‘the ignorant’ and ‘the felon’.

      We’re all just a number to them.

      Only the coastal elite matter to our state leaders.

        • One has to wonder why an intellect such as yourself is slumming here, then. Do you suspect that by calling people morons you’ll convince them? Worked real well during the last election cycle.

          So if not that, then why?

  8. Depends, at the range I’m super happy to let anyone try my stuff, I’ve got some sweet weapons and I’m happy to let people try something you don’t see everyday.
    Lend as in give to someone who then takes it away from my house, mostly no, as I like my toys and have invested in nice ones and don’t know many people who would want to borrow instead of just go shoot together.

  9. Some friends yes, others no. Not because of lack of trust, but because they’re not gun savvy.

    Either way what I do with my property is none of the .gov’s business, like almost every other damn thing they stick their nose into.

    Why do I still have to enter my name and email every time I comment?

  10. Sure, I’ve got a buddy who has a big safe (I don’t have one) and he’s usually got a dozen of my guns and uses them when he wants. But he takes good care of them so I’m not worried.

  11. By no means saying that I do, but if I did, this law would in no way change this.

    If I’m loaning a gun to a friend, it would be for a very simple reasons:
    a) We’re at a range.
    b) My friend needs a gun for fear that he/she is in fear of death or great bodily injury.

    i’m a better friend, than I am a law abiding citizen I suppose.

    • ^ That about nails it for me.

      I’ve even built a few MSRs just for ‘range loaners’ for friends, family, range guests, or even the MSR-curious (if it gets a convert, I love to let ’em shoot).

      I have also loaned a rifle to a friend for a competition when his was in the shop. And a pistol to a friend for the weird CCW requirements here (you had to qualify on a automatic and a revolver for a full ‘open’ CCW, otherwise you were restricted to a single pistol).

  12. Nope. I might let you shoot it at the range while I’m standing next to you but not handing it out to carry or qualify. Buy your own.

  14. It’s never come up…I have a few friends/brother who I would but except for my brother they haven’t asked. All of my church friends have guns too…

  16. Here in Washington state the loan of a firearm requires a background check and transfer by an FFL.

    Really – I’m not making this up.

    • The details are different, but pretty much the same in California now, except that you may loan firearms to close family members. The rules apply at the range as well. The only other exception is that gun ranges can still rent out guns. But I don’t think any one at any range, including the BLM ranges, is actually “enforcing” this law. I mean really, does anyone carry proof of ownership around with them?

      • Mark
        California also has two people to hire a gun rule so you can’t commit suicide at the range. Plus you have to pass safety exam every six months or 12 months.

        My wife and I still tried out a few different firearms last trip to San Diego.

        At the range happy to loan and swap firearms. Have lent family rifles occasionally but nothing else.

  17. “I’m terrible when it comes to lending guns to friends. I’ll do it at the drop of a hat.”
    a cop gave me an old detective special that i lent to an ex. she was a sex assault victim and feels more comfy with it around. that’s been over twenty years.
    after a friend passed his brother gave me a security six. i lent that to my jr. high principal who passed away, so his daughter returned it. it was then off to a korean war vet pal ostensibly so he didn’t need to use his judge to qualify for carry. the slow onset of dementia had him waving it around at noisy construction workers one sunday morning. it went straight to the homan ave. blacksite. i contacted the original owner, also a cop friend of mine who said “leave it alone. you’ll queer my pension.” eh, la.
    i had never fired either of them. one a .38, the other .357. i like bigger revolvers.
    the pa- 83 is a regular loaner for folks who fly in.
    i’m liable to be liable.

    • Too bad about that Security. I’ve got a 4” Police Six from the early 60s, and it’s a fantastic gun. I don’t even like revolvers, by and large, but I love that thing

  18. “Of course, I don’t lend a person a gun if I think any of things are likely to occur. But who knows, really?”
    This is possible the dumbest thing I’ve read here. So anyone with a gun could just snap at any time, funny that’s what the gun grabbers say all the time. Thanks for making their case.

  19. Not ONE of the bazillion homicides in MD can be traced to a loan. They could have fixed this in 2013 when they trampled over Marylander’s rights…. but it did not have a lot of support, or impact, then either.

    Know what the theme of the homicides in Maryland is? “repeat offender.”

    Democrats in MD need to focus on keeping bad guys, er, their constituents, in jail.

  20. I have never lent a g un to anyone before (other than letting someone shoot one at the range), nor do I intend to. But then I’ve never been to Maryland before either and I have no intention of ever doing that either. Between the two, I’m more likely to lend someone a g un than to go to Maryland.

  21. I have loaned to friends on occasion.

    I have one out on a long-term indefinite loan, and if it never comes back, I’m cool with it…

  22. Sure I have a friend out West, I go hunt there and he comes back east .
    It’s just easier to not have to check a long gun , what with all the other gear We have to Bring and check .

  23. I’ll let other people use my firearms (freinds & freinds of freinds) at the range (while I’m standing there). Mostly, it is so a relative of a friend can try a particular firearm that I happen to own.

    Most people that I might loan a firearm to probably already have a version of the guns I own and they all have carry permits.

  24. Same rules for loaning a car? Have to go to DMV and transfer title/registration?
    Give me a break…

  26. Never loaned out. But gave an inheritance of a Government Colt Mustang 380 to my LEO nephew. Gave my sister in law GP100 357 to dispatch cayotes and Gray Fox that get too close to their little dogs and outside cats. Only handgun she had was a Bersa 22lr I bought a replacement for GP100 357. With 38P+ , very manageable recoil.

  27. I might lend a .22 to someone who has other guns, but needs a .22 to dispatch rats or other small vermin. Firearms are tools, you do not use a framing hammer to do finish carpentry. Lending a small, concealable handgun to a sketchy friend who already has larger pistols would need a real reason, but lending him a hunting rifle/shotgun for his hunting trip, is a whole different story.

  29. Nope, but when I was in college, I held guns for friends because they couldn’t have them in the dorms and I lived off-campus.

  31. I let friends shoot my guns at the range — even friends that just met. If I was going to hunt with a friend, than I’d certainly lend him a gun. In both cases, the gun will be used in my presence.

  32. NO. Unexpected things can happen to anyone.

    A long time friend was picked up by police and involuntarily committed to a psych ward and the local PD “picked up” all his weapons. Turned out to be permanent psych ward and weapons gone.

    All of his property was disposed of including some things I had loaned him.

    No more.

  33. A gaggle of Democratic lawmakers believe the ability to loan a gun to someone without a government permission slip “makes it easier for the bad guys and criminals to get around the background check laws

    Wait, they actually think that someone who’s inclined to lend a gun to a prohibited person cares that it’s against the law?

  34. Not anymore, loaned my 243 to a new deer hunter, then his dumbass Freind decided my scope wasnt zeroed. Re zeroed it and didn’t mark down the changes as I had ask them to do. Couple weeks later, I go to their house to get it and it’s propd in the corner with a loaded chamber. So no more of that

  35. I might, if I had any friends… Seriously…, I wouldn’t loan a gun I was not fully willing to part with permanently. I did do a long term loan, a few years back, to a friend who didn’t have a gun, with the caveat that if it went anywhere else, it would be back to me. A couple years later, he bought the same gun from me that he could have kept forever… Pride of ownership, I guess.

  36. Lend a gun???? Snow shovel Or a weed whacker perhaps? Actually most friends are non gun people. Never comes up as a topic.

  37. They want to move it toward laws like DC, where if your wife has a DC CCL which is a full NACI background check, and multiple days firearms safety, practices, law and live fire, if she drives to the range with your gun she is a felon.

    Your choice is having a) her be a felon because you state it was without permission therefore it is firearms theft as well, or both of you being criminals, if you say you gave her permission making her an illegal possessor and you an illegal conveyer.

  38. At the range, sure, even to strangers that seem ok.

    Otherwise, it hasn’t come up. I don’t think I would though, too much to lose in this litigious society.

  39. Sure I lend guns to friends, even to nice people I meet at the range, but only at the range. I only have one true friend who’s been with me through thick and thin and he’s long since earned my loyalty, so I know I can trust him. It helps that my guns aren’t worth much, too.

  41. NY has a similar law which, predictably, has done absolutely nothing to make anyone safer from anything. Arguably it might make some vulnerable people much LESS safe. It is one of many laws that stop someone fleeing a domestic abuse situation from being able to defend herself, for example.

    But the main purpose is to be seen as doing something ideologically ‘positive’ and attack the gun culture making it just a little more harder each day for people to become involved in shooting.

  43. Made the mistake of letting my brother in law borrow a few of my guns to goto the range. When he came back not only did he shoot one of my rifle magazines “accidentally” but my fnx9 was missing. Gave him 3 days to get it back to me and when he failed to do it I called the police. They took a report but said that because I had loaned it to him they couldn’t charge him with theft.

    • What do you think your brother in law did with it? Have you thought of taking him to small claims court?

  44. Nope. My friends have all the guns and have to loan them to me. Any guns I might once have owned drowned years ago in a tragic accident.

  45. Well hell, the answer to end crime forever has finally come. Happy days are here again. But, NO, I don’t lend out my firearms unless I’m there with them. NEVER EVER! Learned my lesson decades ago. Nothing bad happened. However, the pistol got beat up and required a refinish.

  47. My problem is that if someone wants to borrow a rifle for hunting WHY THE HELL YOU AINT INVUTE ME TO HUNT?!?!? BUY YOUR OWN DAMNED GUNS!!!! Or gimme half the meat, at least offer it!!

  48. I lent a gun to a friend just last week!
    He is looking for a small .380 so we shot my Bersa Thunder at the range
    The next day I lent him my wife’s Walther PPK/s so he could try it also.
    I am certain he will return it in a few days
    My wife of course got mad when she found the Bersa and not the Walther in the downstairs drawer
    Another case of a married guy asking for forgiveness instead of permission!

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