Maryland bans assault weapons sales, and federal law routes all firearms through licensed dealers.
You cannot sell firearms classified as assault weapons into Maryland under any circumstances. There is no federal ban — the 1994 law expired in 2004 — so this is a state-level prohibition on part of your catalog. The question is not how you ship but which products you may offer there at all. Federal law already requires every firearm sale to route through a licensed dealer, which means Maryland's restriction applies at the point of sale, not at checkout. This page covers which products Maryland prohibits, how to block them from customers in that state, and what happens to your payment processing if you ship restricted firearms there.
Maryland bans the sale of firearms it classifies as assault weapons. There is no federal ban — the 1994 law expired in 2004 and was never renewed — so this is a state-level prohibition on part of your catalog.
Federal law already routes every firearm sale through a licensed dealer, so the question in Maryland is not how you ship but which of your products may be sold there at all.
Source: Gun Laws by State — assault weapons ban states (2026) · as of 2026-07. Rules in this area change, and this is not legal advice — verify the current position for every state you ship into before you rely on it.
What this means for your store
You cannot sell assault weapons into Maryland. Any attempt to do so will violate state law regardless of your intent or the customer's license status. Because federal law routes firearms through licensed dealers anyway, the enforcement point is the sale itself, not the shipping. If a customer in Maryland orders a firearm your catalog lists as an assault weapon, you must refuse that order completely — there is no compliance workaround. Shipping a prohibited firearm into Maryland is a red flag for underwriters independent of any other risk in your business. Payment processors and acquirers treat it as evidence of poor product knowledge or deliberate evasion, either of which is an underwriting problem. You need proof that you block prohibited models from Maryland customers, not just a note in your internal system.
The control that actually enforces it
In Shopify, the control is per-product shipping profiles: you tag each firearm with the states it can ship to, and Shopify removes Maryland from the checkout if that product is in the cart. Build this by firearm model, not by category, because Maryland bans specific models, not all firearms. The alternative — a note in your head or in a spreadsheet — breaks the moment a team member forgets or a new person takes over ordering. An acquirer will ask to see the shipping profile rule and will check it against your product catalog. If there is no rule, they will see the risk as unfixed.
Why an underwriter cares
Shipping prohibited firearms into a state is an underwriting red flag independent of the product category itself. A firearms seller who cannot block Maryland customers looks like either someone who does not know their own compliance obligations or someone hoping not to be caught. Underwriters treat both as high risk. What an acquirer wants to see is a per-product control in your store — a shipping profile that prevents the sale before it happens — and evidence that you have audited your catalog against Maryland's prohibited list. If you have not done this, they will assume you are shipping there by accident or design. The control is the proof that you take your obligations seriously.
Frequently asked
Can I sell any firearms to Maryland customers?
No. Maryland bans the sale of firearms it classifies as assault weapons entirely. Federal law routes all firearms through licensed dealers, so the prohibition applies at the point of sale, not at the shipping stage. You cannot legally sell a prohibited model to anyone in Maryland, regardless of their license or intended use.
What makes a firearm an assault weapon under Maryland law?
Maryland defines assault weapons by specific model and by mechanical features — this is a state classification independent of federal law, which does not currently ban assault weapons. You must research each model in your catalog against Maryland's prohibited list and block those models from Maryland customers at checkout using per-product shipping profiles.
What happens to my payment processing if I ship a prohibited firearm to Maryland?
Acquirers and underwriters treat shipping into states where your product is prohibited as evidence of poor compliance or deliberate evasion. If you have no per-product control to prevent it, they will flag the risk and may decline to work with you. The fix is a shipping profile rule that blocks prohibited models from Maryland customers before the sale completes.
Moving firearms to a new store? See what actually transfers
A free read-only scan counts every product, variant, image, customer, order and metafield in your store and tells you exactly what a migration would carry across — including the per-product shipping rules and market restrictions that enforce state law for you.
▶ Run the free demo scanMove everything, verified twice, from $247
Your existing store is only ever read from — we never write to it. Everything else about selling firearms: the payments position, the reserve to expect and who underwrites it →