BALTIMORE — Baltimore has settled its lawsuit against Hanover Armory, ending an appeal of a 2025 jury verdict that initially awarded the city $62 million and replacing it with a $2 million payment along with strict new limits on the retailer’s sales of so-called “ghost gun” components.

The agreement closes a yearslong legal fight over allegations that the Maryland gun dealer helped fuel the spread of so-called ghost guns — unserialized, largely untraceable firearms often assembled from kits and designed to bypass traditional background checks.

Under the settlement, Hanover Armory agreed to sweeping terms aimed at curbing illegal gun access. The company will stop selling unserialized gun kits and conversion devices such as Glock switches, bump stocks and forced-reset triggers. It must also report attempted purchases by prohibited buyers, flag suspected straw purchases and provide annual reports to the city detailing firearm and accessory sales.

A straw purchase is where someone buys a gun on behalf of another person, often because the second individual can’t legally purchase it themselves.

Officials from Hanover Armory, a firearm shop in Anne Arundel County, declined to comment other than to acknowledge the settlement Monday, telling The Baltimore Sun that they needed to talk with their attorneys first.

Impact of the settlement

The company will pay Baltimore $2 million, far less than the $62 million jury award returned in August, one of the largest judgments against a gun dealer. The city had initially sought to enforce the full award, but Hanover Armory later moved to reduce its bond, arguing the judgment posed a severe financial strain. The appeal process ultimately led to a negotiated resolution between the two sides in February.

For comparison, Baltimore won two settlements of $45 million each from multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical corporations, Allergan and CVS, for harm done to the city. Hanover Armory was initially ordered to pay $17 million more than those pharmaceutical titans.

City officials said the deal preserves key elements of the trial victory while avoiding the uncertainty of continued litigation. “We will continue to target the worst actors in the gun industry,” said City Solicitor Ebony M. Thompson, adding that the settlement converts the jury win into enforceable oversight measures.

As for the $2 million, city officials said they plan to steer that money toward gun violence prevention programs like MONSE (Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement) that lost some federal funds in 2025.

“This case sends a clear message: we will not tolerate irresponsible gun dealers putting illegal weapons on our streets,” Mayor Brandon Scott said, adding the deal ensures future sales comply with the law while increasing oversight of a high-risk retailer.

A broader campaign

The case is part of a broader legal campaign Baltimore launched in 2021 alongside the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, targeting manufacturers and sellers linked to a surge in ghost guns, particularly among minors. In a related case, the city reached a 2024 settlement with Polymer80 that barred sales to Maryland residents; the company later shut down.

The lawsuits followed a sharp rise in the recovery of ghost guns. Baltimore Police reported a 1,500% increase in seizures between 2019 and 2022, with many weapons tied to shootings, homicides and youth-involved crimes.

As Maryland began implementing a statewide ban on ghost guns, the suit alleged Hanover Armory marketed build-it-yourself gun kits to prohibited buyers, including minors and convicted felons, from Baltimore.

With the appeal now resolved, city officials say the settlement marks a significant step in tightening oversight of gun sales and reducing the flow of illegal firearms into Baltimore neighborhoods.

________

©2026 The Baltimore Sun. Visit at baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.