Dumb question on shipping a firearm......

[Jay]

Ok, I know that when you sell a firearm out of state it must be shipped to a FFL, but what about when shipping one of your own weapons? I just had someone ask me about this. He moved out of state and left some of his firearms in the care of a friend until he got situated down there. Now that he is set, he wants his friend to ship the remaining guns down to him. Can they be shipped right to his house? My first thought was yes, but then I started to over think it, like I have a tendency to do.  I haven't done any research on this yet as this situation has never come up, I was hoping someone could save me the effort.

[Chris Z]

Jay-

The Friend cannot ship those firearms to the owner. Firearms cannot be shipped from a non-FFL to another non-FFL.

Unfortunately really the only way I see it is that the friend would have to ship the guns to an FFL dealer here, and the FFL would have to transfer them to the owner. Or the owner needs to go pick them up.

Now, I know that you can ship LONG guns to yourself for hunting purposes, however you have to do the shipping I believe (not someone else).

[Jay]

Thanks, I was afraid of that.

The craziness never seems to end.....

[wrenrj1]

Chris,

I'll throw this out, and I don't know that I'm right, but this is not a transfer of ownership.  Could not the original owner ship from himself to himself in another state?

[Chris Z]

Wren-

I believe you can do that with a long gun for the purposes of hunting. Not sure about a handgun though. Those darn Federal laws are so hard to read because they are full of *******

[Wesley D]

Wren-
I believe you can do that with a long gun for the purposes of hunting.  Not sure about a handgun though.

The answer is yes, you can ship to yourself for hunting or other lawful activities.  See Sec B9 here: http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm#b9

(B9) May a nonlicensee ship firearms interstate for his or her use in hunting or other lawful activity?

Yes. A person may ship a firearm to himself or herself in care of another person in the State where he or she intends to hunt or engage in any other lawful activity. The package should be addressed to the owner. Persons other than the owner should not open the package and take possession of the firearm.

That being said, handguns cannot be shipped via USPS (must use FedEx or other private courier) and they must be shipped overnight. 

Zombie

[Rich B]

As an aside, an FFL can ship handguns via USPS.  It might be cheaper to pay transfer plus postage than to overnight it via UPS or FedEx. 

[Chris Z]

As an aside, an FFL can ship handguns via USPS.  It might be cheaper to pay transfer plus postage than to overnight it via UPS or FedEx. 

Paying an FFL to ship a handgun via USPS Priority is definitely the way to go.

[Dan W]

Many FFL's refuse to ship to anyone but another FFL

[David Hineline]

The Post Office form 1508 is only from FFLs to FFLs not to or from individuals.