Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: In Maine, an ordinary heir does not need a state permit, licence or card to receive or possess the firearm, and the acquisition does not have to be reported to any state agency. Maine has no dealer-mediated background-check law for private transfers at all, so there is no such mandate for a bequest to be exempt from. The statute does not name inheritance, bequest or intestate succession anywhere in the sections that govern this. Every answer below is quoted from Maine’s own code with the section named and linked, because this is a subject where being roughly right is not a category that exists.
What Maine law settles, in four lines
| Question | What the code says | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Does the heir need a state permit, licence or card? | No | 15 M.R.S. §393(1) and Title 25, ch. 252-A (full) |
| Does the acquisition have to be reported? | No | 25 M.R.S. §2014 |
| Does it have to go through a licensed dealer? | No mandate exists | 25 M.R.S. §2016(1)(A)-(E) |
| Does the statute name inheritance at all? | Not named | 25 M.R.S. §2016(1)(A)-(E), (4)(C)(1); Title 25 ch. 252-A and Title 17-A ch. 43 (full); 15 M.R.S. §393 (full) |
What this covers. An ordinary estate transfer in Maine: the person who died and the person inheriting are in the same state, and the firearm is an ordinary rifle, shotgun, pistol or revolver. Machine guns, suppressors, short-barrelled rifles and anything else registered under the National Firearms Act run on a separate federal track that is not this page, and neither is moving a firearm across a state line. The federal layer is set out separately.
Does the heir need a permit, licence or card
No. Maine does not condition receiving or possessing an inherited firearm on a state permit, licence or card.
A person may not own, possess or have under that person’s control a firearm, unless that person has obtained a permit under this section, if that person:
Does anyone have to be told, and by when
No. Nothing in Maine’s code requires the acquisition to be reported or registered with a state or local agency.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a government agency of this State or a political subdivision of this State may not keep or cause to be kept a comprehensive registry of privately owned firearms and the owners of those firearms within its jurisdiction.
Source: 25 M.R.S. §2014
Does it have to go through a licensed dealer
Maine has no dealer-mediated background-check law for private transfers at all, so there is no such mandate for a bequest to be exempt from. The claim that an inherited firearm always has to be transferred through a licensed dealer is not true as a flat statement in any state in this table.
The one dealer-related provision on the books does not reach an ordinary private transfer:
“Agreement” means an agreement reached between a buyer and a seller for the purchase and the sale of a firearm.
Source: 25 M.R.S. §2016(1)(A)-(E)
What the code says about inheritance itself
The statute does not name inheritance, bequest or intestate succession anywhere in the sections that govern this.
The nearest provision, quoted, does not name inheritance:
The buyer and seller are family members. For purposes of this subparagraph, “family member” means a spouse, domestic partner, parent, stepparent, foster parent, child, stepchild, foster child or person related by consanguinity within the 2nd degree
What this page does not tell you
- This is what the statute says, not what a court or a police department has done with it. No case law and no agency guidance was read. Where a code is silent, this page reports silence rather than filling it in.
- City and county rules sit on top and are not here. A local rule can add a step the state code does not mention.
- Who may possess is a separate question from how it transfers. A federal or state bar on possession (a felony conviction, a protective order, an involuntary commitment) attaches to the person and reaches an inherited firearm exactly as it reaches a bought one.
- A gun trust is a different mechanism and is covered separately. What a gun trust does and does not do is its own question, and it is mostly a federal one.
- This is general information, not legal advice. On this subject a wrong step is not a paperwork problem, so the sections are linked for you to read and a probate lawyer in the state is the right next call if anything here is close.
Sources
Every answer on this page comes out of a 51-jurisdiction table built from statute text. Maine’s four cells are individually cited below.
| What it supports | Section | Tier | Read on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does the heir need a state permit, licence or card? | 15 M.R.S. §393(1) and Title 25, ch. 252-A (full) | statute | 2026-08-17 |
| Does the acquisition have to be reported? | 25 M.R.S. §2014 | statute | 2026-08-17 |
| Does it have to go through a licensed dealer? | 25 M.R.S. §2016(1)(A)-(E) | statute | 2026-08-17 |
| Does the statute name inheritance at all? | 25 M.R.S. §2016(1)(A)-(E), (4)(C)(1); Title 25 ch. 252-A and Title 17-A ch. 43 (full); 15 M.R.S. §393 (full) | statute | 2026-08-17 |
All 51 jurisdictions are in the by-state table, with the same four cells for every state side by side.
General consumer information, not legal advice. State codes are as published by the cited source and change without notice; the statute and a lawyer in the state govern.