Shipping and FTF Transfers

[Schultz]

Well after seeing yet another person on here who was unaware of the laws and the fact I get calls all day long on the proper procedures on buying from an individual I think it might be a good idea to to make a sticky somewhere on the forum to help educate people on the laws and regulations. Please forgive me if we already have this somewhere but I couldn't find it. I was real unsure of where to post this so please put it where you see fit Mods.

Shipping across state lines only allowed to a FFL Dealer:

Long Guns...Anybody can ship them via UPS & Fedex Ground as long as the receiving FFL Dealer accepts from a non-dealer. Keep in mind that most will not. I will but require a copy of your DL included with the package.

Handguns....Anybody can ship them via UPS & Fedex OVERNIGHT as long as the receiving FFL Dealer accepts from a non-dealer. Keep in mind that most will not. I will but require a copy of your DL included with the package. This is both companies policy and from what I have been told by ATF is not law. Keep in mind that if you buy insurance on the package and send it any other way besides overnight and a claim has to be put in it will get DENIED and no pay out will be received for not following policy.
USPS and Handguns...YOU CANT SHIP THIS WAY AT ALL. Only dealers can ship this way and you can bet that I have had my fair share of people who lied to the postal worker and shipped it anyway and had the gun never show up to me because it got scanned and confiscated. Just ask Fordnut about this. Somebody sent him one that never showed up to me.

Now of course there are exceptions to some of these rules that I am sure some of you will point out like if you are going hunting in another state you can ship your own gun to yourself. There is also a few more but it is very rarely they will apply.

Note on Machine Guns and UPS Do not ship any machine gun via UPS. Believe it or not they actually have a policy that they do not pay out insurance on claims if it involves a machine gun. Fedex is the only way to go on this. This would come into play if you currently have one needing to be sent out for repair.

FTF Private sales...This is real easy....If they are a resident of YOUR state you can do a FTF. If not, you CAN'T. People in bordering states like NC and GA try all the time to do this and you can be rest assured that I have had discussions with ATF and SLED and they constantly do undercover buys near the borders all the time busting people for this. If you find a good deal in GA or NC you will have to have it sent to a dealer. Sorry but its the law. No paperwork is required in SC which is what most people call to ask me daily. You can meet, exchange and go home in all of 5 min without any paperwork.

Now please chime in with anything I have forgotten. I wrote this quickly in between customers.

 

[Avtomat-Acolyte]

State residency is excepted in the case of temporary residency caused by government assignment. For example, PFC Turdburglar from Connecticut, with a Connecticut operator's license, vehicle tag/registry, but with Department of the Army station assignment papers to Fort Jackson, Columbia, SC can buy guns all day long.

As has been mentioned, yes, you can mail guns to yourself without using an FFL. You can also mail guns to any receiving FFL without using an originating FFL. Many people think that they have to take their gun to an FFL and have them mail it. Many people also think that they have to use an FFL to receive their own gun back from having work done on it.

FFL's are only required to transfer guns ownership*, not physically relocate them.

*(with respect to Interstate Commerce)