Shipping Gifted Firearms Out Of California To An FFL

[WeldonHunter]

This might not be as complicated as I think but I'm just now starting the process of working this out. A friend in California's nephew passed away recently and left a collection of 20 firearms. His parents want to gift them to me since I'm a collector. I don't have the list yet but as far as I can tell so far they are all modern firearms, no C&R. Looks like 4 AR type rifles, 1 lever action 22Mag rifle and the rest are handguns. I'm in Louisiana and have an FFL that I work with on a regular basis but this is a bit different from the past transfers I've done buying firearms from retail shops online and having them sent to him.
What are the steps his parents would need to take to send them to my FFL. I'm assuming they'd need to take them to an FFL in their area to send them but I have no idea what the the FFL on their end might need from them and what the cost might typically be. Can they just take them to someone willing to ship them to my FFL and they'll handle the rest. One other thing is their son was a custom knife maker and sometimes did trades for firearms. They have no idea which ones he bought and which ones he took in trade that might have questionable previous ownership. I have no reason to believe any might have been stolen but that is one of their concerns. He wouldn't knowingly accept one that was but who knows.

Edit:
It was suggested that I put the general location of these which is the Tracy, CA area. Anyone who knows a decent FFL in the area that could do this would help. I did talk to Elite Armory Plus. They said they could handle this except if the ARs are not California compliant. They want $100 for each long gun and $75 for the handguns each. That includes packaging and shipping.

[SkyHawk]

Contact your local receiving FFL. They will tell you what they want. It is them who dictates how it proceeds and what documents need to be included. Some FFLs will accept transfer shipments from private parties and some will not.

UPS/Fedex are difficult to deal with lately and may require a FFL to ship them to another FFL.

USPS can be used for long guns and perhaps with less hassle.

[WeldonHunter]

Contact your local receiving FFL. They will tell you what they want. It is them who dictates how it proceeds and what documents need to be included. Some FFLs will accept transfer shipments from private parties and some will not.

UPS/Fedex are difficult to deal with lately and may require a FFL to ship them to another FFL.

USPS can be used for long guns and perhaps with less hassle.

Thanks that makes sense to a point but I was thinking the sending FLL might have stuff they need to file also. I'm not real sure what the laws are in California. I lived there for 19 years but left about 15 years ago and things have really changed in that time. Plus I really don't know what these ARs are as far as legality in California and if the handguns are roster approved or not and if that even makes a difference since they're leaving California. Plus since their son's passed away I would guess that makes his parents the current owners now. He wasn't married and had no children.

I looked up shipping the long guns USPS but what I saw didn't make much sense. I also looked up UPS and FedEx and they were talking about not being able to ship any guns unless you have some sort of account like an FFL would have.
I guess the first thing I need to do is talk to my FFL and see if he'll even do this. I know he doesn't like doing private transfers but figured he might since it's coming from an FFL.

The other thing is how to tell if any of these are reported stolen. A friend of mine is a deputy on the local police force in town and I was thinking I might see if he can run the serial numbers just to make sure they're all legal. The uncle is sending me a list of all the guns, what they are and the serial numbers for them.

[Milsurp1]

https://www.shipmygun.com

[Nardo1895]

You need to be careful with the ARs. There are a number of different possibilities, most of which will cause you problems getting them out of CA.

1. They are fully CA compliant >> Any FFL can ship to you in LA. If your FFL will receive firearms from a non-FFL they can ship direct to your FFL via USPS.
2. They are registered as AW in CA >> Only a FFL with an AW permit can receive and ship to you. AW dealers are few and far between. I think you could have the upper shipped to you and have them turn the lower over to LEO.
3. Illegal AW due to a named receiver >> No way to get the lower to you. Ship the upper to you and turn the lower in to LEO. Maybe an AW dealer could ship you the lower, I'm not sure on this one.
4. Illegal AW due to too many evil features >> Spilt the upper and lower and ship separately. If receiving FFL won't accept firearm shipments from a private party, you'll need to find a CA FFL who will ship the lower to your FFL. Upper can be shipped direct to you without a FFL.

There may be other scenarios I'm not thinking about. There is a CA AW guide out there, probably somewhere on Calguns. But even with that you really need to be able to inspect the AR to find out if it's complaint. Some of the methods of making an AR legal are pretty subtle.

You may have similar issues if any of the handguns have Hi-cap mags, but most CA FFLs have Hi-cap permits.

[WeldonHunter]

www.shipmygun.com

I saw that doing my research and it may be an option but this has a lot of moving parts and might get complicated. The people in possession of these are the guys parents in California and they really know nothing about firearms. I'm thinking it might be easier for them to take them to an FFL that would be willing to box them up and send them out themselves.

[WeldonHunter]

You need to be careful with the ARs. There are a number of different possibilities, most of which will cause you problems getting them out of CA.

1. They are fully CA compliant >> Any FFL can ship to you in LA. If your FFL will receive firearms from a non-FFL they can ship direct to your FFL via USPS.
2. They are registered as AW in CA >> Only a FFL with an AW permit can receive and ship to you. AW dealers are few and far between. I think you could have the upper shipped to you and have them turn the lower over to LEO.
3. Illegal AW due to a named receiver >> No way to get the lower to you. Ship the upper to you and turn the lower in to LEO. Maybe an AW dealer could ship you the lower, I'm not sure on this one.
4. Illegal AW due to too many evil features >> Spilt the upper and lower and ship separately. If receiving FFL won't accept firearm shipments from a private party, you'll need to find a CA FFL who will ship the lower to your FFL. Upper can be shipped direct to you without a FFL.

There may be other scenarios I'm not thinking about. There is a CA AW guide out there, probably somewhere on Calguns. But even with that you really need to be able to inspect the AR to find out if it's complaint. Some of the methods of making an AR legal are pretty subtle.

You may have similar issues if any of the handguns have Hi-cap mags, but most CA FFLs have Hi-cap permits.

Luckily it looks like there's only 3 ARs. I haven't seen any of these because they're in California. At some point I may get them to take pictures of the ARs for me to look at. My friend got a list of all of the the guns and the serial numbers compiled by his brother-in-law who was the guy that passed away's dad and is sending it to me. I asked him what the rifles were just out of curiosity and as he read the descriptions his brother-in-law had written down he read the make and model numbers and was saying "assault rifle" after them. He told me his brother-in-law is a stickler for details and may have added that himself because like a lot of people he thinks AR15s are assault weapons but it may also be on the rifles. I don't know. This all sucks. This is one reason I left California, because of this s**t.

[SkyHawk]

Nothing needs to be filed in CA. The guns can be shipped out of state and CA does not need to be aware. There is no law that says they have to be deregistered or that any CA state agency receive notice of their change in ownership or their disposition, unless they are being transferred to another CA resident.

[WeldonHunter]

Nothing needs to be filed in CA. The guns can be shipped out of state and CA does not need to be aware. There is no law that says they have to be deregistered or that any CA state agency receive notice of their change in ownership or their disposition, unless they are being transferred to another CA resident.

Yeah I've been finding this out. I called an FFL in the area where where they are located and was told it's no problem shipping them except if the ARs are not legal by California regs. I guess that means if they were registered as "Assault Rifles" or are not in some other way California legal. So far that looks like the only issue. The other issue is my FFL here doesn't like doing private transfers. I've never shipped a firearm privately and these are not gun people so they have no clue. That's one reason I'm using an FFL. To make it easier for them and to do what my FFL wants. My FFL probably won't charge me anything if I do it this way. We have a working relationship. I run gun-deals.com and help him out listing some of the firearms he gets in to the pawn shop he owns. Plus I take him and the wife eggs from the farm here. Most he's ever charged me was $40 and that was for 8 rifles I bought many years ago. Most times he'd only charge $20 and the last few times he didn't charge me at all.

[kendog4570]

Nothing needs to be filed in CA. The guns can be shipped out of state and CA does not need to be aware. There is no law that says they have to be deregistered or that any CA state agency receive notice of their change in ownership or their disposition, unless they are being transferred to another CA resident.

This. Why make stuff up?? Just ship them. If they are "contraband" by CA law, they will be out of the state, which is what the jerks want in the first place.

[Milsurp1]

ShipMyGun is easy. They even give you a UPS letter with a direct line to the UPS account manager. If the UPS hub employee protests you hand it to them and they call the UPS account manager at UPS who tells them it?s fine to accept.

[WeldonHunter]

ShipMyGun is easy. They even give you a UPS letter with a direct line to the UPS account manager. If the UPS hub employee protests you hand it to them and they call the UPS account manager at UPS who tells them it?s fine to accept.

I looked at that. I wasn't sure how it worked. Do they send you the boxes and label to put them in? One aspect of this is my FFL wants these to come from another FFL, not being shipped directly by a private person. He told me the paper work to check them all in is time consuming and would take hours to do on this many guns that way as apposed to just checking them in when they come from an FFL. He charges $75 for each gun or $1500 to do a private transfer as apposed to $20 or maybe nothing for all 20 of them if they come from another FFL. Remember these are being shipped by an older man in his 80s that knows nothing about any of this. I'm trying to make it as simple as possible on his end.

[edgerly779]

Ripoff from both ffls.

[kendog4570]

...He told me the paper work to check them all in is time consuming and would take hours to do on this many guns that way as apposed to just checking them in when they come from an FFL....

That's bullshheeeit. At least federally. Each gun has to be entered on it's own line, make, model, serial etc. This guy never heard of quotation marks for repetitive entry's?? 20 guns or a thousand, you'll need the first line and last line complete about the acquisition (Whom, where from, when, etc.) , with quotes or lines from start to finish. As far as state, Don't know about LA but I doubt they are anywhere near as anal as good ol CA.

...Remember these are being shipped by an older man in his 80s that knows nothing about any of this. I'm trying to make it as simple as possible on his end.

Sounds like they are yours, yes??
If they are your property, have the sender ship your property to you direct. Perfectly legal.

As far as he receiving FFL's fees, sounds stiff. What are the laws in Louisiana?

[WeldonHunter]

That's bullshheeeit. At least federally. Each gun has to be entered on it's own line, make, model, serial etc. This guy never heard of quotation marks for repetitive entry's?? 20 guns or a thousand, you'll need the first line and last line complete about the acquisition (Whom, where from, when, etc.) , with quotes or lines from start to finish. As far as state, Don't know about LA but I doubt they are anywhere near as anal as good ol CA.




Sounds like they are yours, yes??
If they are your property, have the sender ship your property to you direct. Perfectly legal.



As far as he receiving FFL's fees, sounds stiff. What are the laws in Louisiana?

What my FFL told me about accepting private sale transfers is the sender has to send a copy of their driver's license and or some other ID along with each gun he has to enter the senders info. for each on his end when logging them in on his end. Otherwise he'd just be using the sending FFL's info. and the particulars for each gun. He said it would take maybe 20 minutes to do it that was as apposed to a few hours for the private transfer. That's why he'd charge a lot more. As it stands he usually only charges me $20 for FFL transfers no matter if it's 1 or 20 guns. Like I said last few times he didn't even charge me. Bottom line for me is I trust my guy, known him and have done business with him for over a decade.

As far as them already being my property well I get your meaning but technically they aren't. Plus I'm in another state and as far as I know they would still need to go to an FFL.