Giving pistol as gift question - Holiday Gift Thread

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98C5

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My fiance and I are traveling to Georgia in 2 weeks to see her son and wife. I plan to give one of my pistols as a gift. I have a CCW that is good through South Carolina. Looks like it is ok to go through Georgia as long as they are unloaded and in a case.

Can I just take him to a local FFL and have them put the pistol in his name?

I have never given a gun as a gift before so this is new to me.

Thanks!
 
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98C5 said:
Can I just take him to a local FFL and have them put the pistol in his name?
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Yes. That is what is required to be done to comply with Federal law since you and your son are residents of difference states. Or, you can ship the handgun to a Georgia FFL as well.

For you to give your son the handgun without transfer through a Georgia FFL would be two violations of Federal law, don't let the Georgia FFL talk you into that.

Also, as a note, the gun will not "be put in his name." There is no gun registration in Georgia. The form 4473 that the FFL uses is to document the required background check, not to "put the gun in his name."
 
Made this a sticky thread, hope you don't mind.

Every year around the holidays we get a lot of questions on the laws around gifting firearms.

There are plenty of other places with the answers but we'll keep this one stuck until after the first of the year and try to put all questions on this topic in one place.

Thanks!
 
Straw purchase

With Christmas approaching, I was considering purchasing a revolver for my "soon to be" daughter-in-law", but living in Virginia I'm concerned about violating the Straw purchase laws. I suppose I could make the gift to my son, and he could let his fiance know which bedroom drawer it resides in. They live in an apartment complex, and their unit is on the back side of the units. I would like to upgrade her security situation, especially when he is out of town. Its the kind of gift that they cannot afford, and I'm more than willing to conduct the necessary training. She could stay current by accompanying us on our monthly range trips.

Any words of wisdom from the gallery out there?

(I'm thinking .38 snubby)
Thanks

KKKKFL
 
As long as it is a gift, and the recipient lives in the same state, and there is no need for registration, you can gift it to her and it's not a straw purchase.

If she lives in another state, it still has to be transferred by an FFL.
 
Franco2shoot said:
I was considering purchasing a revolver for my "soon to be" daughter-in-law", but living in Virginia I'm concerned about violating the Straw purchase laws. I suppose I could make the gift to my son, and he could let his fiance know which bedroom drawer it resides in.
Click to expand...

I'm confused. What's the difference between you giving the gun to the "soon to be daughter-in-law", giving the gun to your son and letting her "find it", and/or your son giving the gun to his girlfriend? If everybody is a resident of the same state, it's all the same.
 
I can't be sure, but I would bet that, the old "if it's a family member" notion might have shown up again. For some reason, people think that the law has exceptions for family transactions. I don't know.
(I'm thinking .38 snubby)
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Ah c'mon. Might as well go full blown 4.25" .357 magnum!! I vote for a stainless GP100.
 
Since the thread is now officially open for weapon suggestions :), I recommend a Smith and Wesson Governor for the lady, she can go from scare 'em to drill 'em in one cylinder.
 
^ they all nailed it.

Figure I'd throw in that snubby revolvers are pretty tough to shoot, all things considered. Your saying you're going to conduct the necessary training leads me to believe she doesn't have a ton of experience. Snubs have a tiny sight radius, are often too small in the grip, and will have more felt recoil than a larger revolver. If she's not intending to carry concealed, I'd lean more towards something with a 4" barrel, like a K-frame, model 10 or otherwise.

BUT!

Check out corneredcat.com. If you were a novice and someone told you you need a desert eagle for all situations because men are big and that's what you should have, would you be a little put off? I know I would. Works the same way with women, though usually reversed. Your best bet, if you want her to be interested in it and want to learn to shoot it well, is to let her learn enough to pick her own gun that fits her well, AFTER a bit of training, not before. Again, I don't know her shooting experience, so you're the better gauge of all that.
I think it's awesome what you're doing, good luck to ya!
 
A gift is not a straw purchase, and it even says this on the instructions for the 4473.

And in Virginia we do not register or need anyone's permission to purchase what we want.

She does need to be Virginia resident though.
 
As long as it is a gift, and the recipient lives in the same state, and there is no need for registration, you can gift it to her and it's not a straw purchase.

If she lives in another state, it still has to be transferred by an FFL.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. A stranger recently tried to drag my daughter out of her car after she finished shopping. Fortunately, the door was locked and she was able to drive off. However, she was severely spooked. As a result, she has become interested in owning a handgun.

I just bought a handgun for her, but was unsure if it was legal to give it to her. We both live in the same city. How long does she have to live in the same state to avoid transfer fees? She is in college may have to move in a couple of years.
 
How long does she have to live in the same state to avoid transfer fees? She is in college may have to move in a couple of years.
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As long as she lives in your state, she's a resident and can be given a firearm directly from your hands. Her residency ends when she makes a home in another state, a couple years away as you said. There is no time frame that she must remain in the state for, after having been a resident there already, in order to be a resident there currently. So you could give her a pistol for her birthday, and if she decided to move out of state the very next day, it wouldn't matter as far as the gun transaction the day prior.

hth
 
According to the ATF, "The State of residence is the State in which an individual is present; the individual also must have an intention of making a home in that State."

There is no waiting period. While a gun dealer will need to see ID, and may require that ID to be issued by the state in which you are claiming residence in order to sell to you, lawfully there is no federal requirement that you've lived there even one full day -- only that that state is honestly the state in which you have or plan to make your home.
 
Thanks guys,
Good suggestions all. My concern was that she is not (at least as of this Christmas) a family member.. So gifting to someone not related might be construed as Straw. She is a Virginia resident and as I indicated I know she worries on the night's where my son is out of town.

As for the Snubby approach, I know there are various opinions on this. One school goes that the longer barrel can be snatched out of a small frame woman's hand, and if the aggressor is that close sight picture is not important. Of course, the other side of that argument is "Don't let the aggressor get that close!"

In the end, my feeling is to get her into the gun shop and find the weapon that "Feels" best in her hand, and I don't believe it needs to be 44 magnum caliber. There's not enough room to swing a cat in their apartment, so my advice is "If you hear something outside the bedroom, turn on the lights and yell I've called the cops and I'm armed!" They can steal the silverware/TV and what ever, but come through the bedroom door.... well you know the drill. I'm pretty sure I can teach her to place 3 or 4 rounds center mass at 12'.


KKKKFL
 
Doesn't matter if she's a family member or not. If she's a resident of the same state as you (and you have no reason to believe she is prohibited from possessing firearms), you may gift her a firearm.
 
So gifting to someone not related might be construed as Straw. She is a Virginia resident and as I indicated I know she worries on the night's where my son is out of town.
Click to expand...
As CoRoMo and ttolhurst said, family or not doesn't enter into it.

This is something that really trips folks up with firearm laws in a lot of ways. Most gun owners, I think, believe there is a "family exemption" to the federal regulations like interstate transfer laws. There isn't. It doesn't matter if you want to give a firearm to your son, your father, or your surgically-separated formerly conjoined twin -- if they reside in another state that transfer has to go through a dealer.

Ironically, if selling or giving a firearm (long gun OR handgun) to a resident of your own state -- according to federal law, at least -- you can hand it to them, ship it to them, give it to someone else to take to them ... whatever you want (except handguns via USPS), whether they're family or a complete stranger.

The huge dichotomy that was created by GCA'68 between what can happen interstate vs. intrastate is absurd and should bother folks a lot more than it seems to.
 
Franco2shoot,

Normally I would not suggest this as a self-defense gun, but in a small apartment, it might be well suited...

Possibly look at a .410 shotshell revolver such as the Taurus Judge. With shotshell, it is only accurate at very close range, however.

Shotshells also lower the chances of penetrating the interior walls and bullets going into the next apartment.
 
Added the straw purchase question. We'll have all the holiday problems covered soon :)

Please forgive the odd order of some posts, a side effect of merging. Just trying to keep all the holiday questions in one place.
 
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