How does an FFL holder buy firearms through the mail? How does he prove to the seller that he is an FFL holder?
Thanks,
Rob
Fax, email, or snail mail a copy of your license.
How do you confirm it’s not a forgery? Not saying this comes up a lot, but just curious.
Probably the same way a store spots a fake or stolen ID… Something is wrong or suspicious. Or they don’t spot it and fall for it. I’m sure fraud and identity theft happen with firearms transactions as they do with all other transactions.
I’m an FFL holder. In over 28 years I’ve never had a problem with fraud regarding this.
The distributor can only ship to the name & address listed on the license copy. And then it is usually shipped in a manner that requires a signature and sometimes an ID.
If someone somehow got a copy of my license they couldn’t just have guns shipped to their house. It would go to my business address.
If someone wants to pay for guns and ship them to me I won’t complain.:)
I think what the OP is saying, can you type in the license number in a government website somewhere and get a page that comes up that says “license number valid. Here is a picture of the entire license as issued”. You’d be able to make sure the license you have a photocopy of is actually unaltered and someone didn’t just make a fake one.
Making a fake one is super easy if it’s going to be faxed or sent via a low resolution scan. Any idiot could start with someone else’s license, change the picture, the name, the address, and end up with something that would look fine if it’s scanned in black and white on a dirty scanner.
With more time invested, the criminals could make a perfect replica that would look fine in a high resolution photograph.
With a lot of time invested, they could make something that could be presented in person, but this requires special printers, UV dye, and even then probably won’t look exactly like the real thing, just very close.
For at least 40 years it has been fairly easy to make a fake of most paper and plastic documents. Over the years, anti-counterfeiting technology has gotten better (holograms, UV seals) but the tools to counterfeit have gotten better still (photoshop versus the old methods of using optical compositing). The only thing that matters these days is that number on the document, if you can call up the government agency that issued it and verify the number is valid and the name and other information match.
Yes. It’s on the ATF site.
https://www.atfonline.gov/fflezcheck/
If they altered the address making it different than what came up on the check (which is required) a legit seller/distributor would not make the sale or shipment.
It was my understanding that a seller cannot legally ship, via USPS / UPS / FedEx / etc. a firearm to a buyer’s home; one has to ship it to a FFL dealer near the buyer’s home where the buyer will have to go to pick it up. Which would give a dealer the opportunity to check IDs or whatever is necessary. The NRA can thank Lee Harvey Oswald for this one. Anyway, am I incorrect in my understanding of this?
Correct, for the most part. If the buyer also has an FFL and the address on the FFL is his home, then I could ship it to his home. And, contrary to popular belief, I can use the U.S. Postal Service to do it too, including for handguns.
The USPS has become one of the cheapest ways to ship a gun. And you should see the looks on the faces of the postal worker when I tell them what’s in the box. But not as enjoyable as the look on their face when, after smuggly arguing with me, their boss comes out, looks at my paper work, and then tells them “yes, he can ship a Glock!” Bwahahahahah! Precious!:p:p:p
Yes, unless you have your own FFL (don’t have to list a place of business for all types). Except in some specific situations, like you don’t have to involve a FFL if shipping to a manufacturer for repairs or during the gun’s return to you. You still have to be there to sign for it, of course.
Details? Is it only for FFL-03 that you need to use overnight UPS/FedEx?
Yes. I’ve used USPS for years to ship guns. I even have chapter 432 copied on the back of the USPS form 1508 I fill out whenever I ship. Less experienced postal workers still freak after reading the copy of their own goddamned rules.
There are the regulars that don’t even blink when I ship. But what fun is that?