I’m going to be inheriting some guns from my grandfather and I don’t yet have a proper place to store them. I have some experience with guns from my time in ROTC in college and Boy Scouts, but I’ve never owned one before. For the short term, is it considered acceptable to remove the bolt/bolt carrier assembly from a gun and lock it up separately in order to secure the weapon?
Yes, that’s common in the military. The bolts are removed and stored in a secure area.
Provided your local laws don’t call for a higher standard of secure storage (and for the love of God, it’s vitally important you check this sort of thing out, as well as what the arms laws in general are where you live!), removing the bolt and locking it up somewhere else should be fine in the short term (assuming no kids or dodgy flatmates etc in the house). If possible, I’d recommend keeping the guns in a locked cupboard as well. If that isn’t possible, you might want to invest in some trigger locks- they’re all of $10, and well worth it IMHO.
You don’t list your location, but assuming you’re in the USA :dubious: , many local Police Departments will supply free gun locks to residents. In fact many will not even check to see if you’re a resident.
These locks are usable on pretty much any hand gun and on most rifles and shotguns. A well equipped gun shop will probably have locking devices to fit any firearms that the free locks won’t fit. The free locks consist of a plastic coated cable that can pass down the barrel or through the cylinder of most handguns. If it won’t go down the barrel, the cable can go up through the magazine well and out the ejection port or through the frame where the cylinder would normally close. Any of these methods would prevent loading and firing.
And as Martini Enfield says, check and see if your locality has stricter requirements for safe storage.
Thanks for the replies, I’m in Baltimore County in Maryland, USA (separate jurisdiction from the city). So far as I can tell, I don’t need any sort of licensing for rifles or shotguns. I’ll have to do some further research to see if there are special storage laws though.
My wife and I don’t have any kids yet and she’s ok with having the guns in the house as long as they are completely secured and safe. To make her comfortable I’m thinking of really going overboard, with a locked location for the guns, a separate locked location for the bolts, trigger/plastic cable type locks, and no ammo in the house. I realize it’s probably overkill, but I have no delusions that I’ll be using these for home defense.
Depending on the age/value of the arms, a gun safe might be a good idea. If they are nothing special, the cable, or similar, locks would be sufficient.
Are both you and your Grandfather both residents of the same state? If not, there could be some minor obstacles to your taking possession.
Nope, he’s in NY, I’m in MD. I know that I can legally transport the guns from NY to MD provided I can legally possess them in both states. MD is no problem, but I guess I’ll have to research NY transfer laws.
As for the value, I really have no idea. There’s a .22 that’s at least 70 years old, a .30-06 and a 12 gauge that I don’t know too much about, and a revolver that I probably won’t take possession of, at least initially. Handguns require licensing in Maryland and I haven’t looked into that too much yet.
The long arm transfer should be pretty straight forward, but the handguns would likely require an FFL (Federal Firearms Licensee) transfer. To make it easier, I’d just find an FFL dealer in both locations, and let them handle the transfer. They’ll do the paperwork, ship from NY to MD, and transfer the guns to you. There might be different rules for in-family transfers, but that’s what I’d do (if I cared about the legality) if it was a transfer between unrelated people.
In NH (your state may vary), one may sell any gun to another in-state resident without any paperwork. As long as the original owner has no reason to believe that the recipient is prohibited in any way from owning firearms (no permits are required to own, only to carry concealed.) I like guns without a paperwork trail, but that’s not for everyone.
If I felt reasonably (read damn near certain) that the gun had a clean history, I’d probably not bother in a private sale/transfer, even if the owner was from out of state (and I knew them). My advice to you, however, is to check with the appropriate states to get the real rules.
As for storage, a small gun safe is probably best, and you could store all of the gear in one place, with a very reasonable certainty of security. Add trigger locks (cable based, or ‘on trigger’) for additional security. I use a converted set of gym lockers with padlocks on the handles. I’m more worried about preventing casual access than real theft, however. I store my guns in one set of lockers, and ammo in another.
It didn’t used to be unusual to find a basic, barrel-keyed safe for just over $100. Garage sales are good sometimes (Colorado may not be like Maryland).
I’m just speculating right now, but usually isn’t it the laws of the state of residence that apply? I doubt NY cares about guns going out of the state, and inheritance may… You know what? I don’t understand anything east of the Mississippi, so disregard.
Removing the bolt would be considered overkill around here, but if the wife is worried it is pretty safe at that point, unless you bonk someone on the head. But, as mentioned, trigger locks are dirt cheap - 2 for $17.
I once made it halfway up the mountain before my wife called and asked if I wanted to bring my bolt, so I don’t store them separately anymore.
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I’d imagine that it all depends on where the transfer happens. If he goes to get them, that’s one answer. If his family brings them to him, that may (or not) be another answer.
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DOH! Sounds like my first trip to hunting camp. I got 2+ hours from home, and realized I forgot my boots. I detoured out of the way by about an hour to hit a Wal-Mart as it was the only place open, and shorter than returning home.
I’m not a lawyer, and YMMV, but I need to raise a flag/ask the question: from the different states I’ve lived in, I’ve never heard of being required to have a permit for posessing a firearm, but only to buy a firearm.
Reason I make the distinction is that I’ve bought firearms in Arizona and North Dakota (no such permit-to-purchase requirement). If I move back home to a hypothetically ‘permit-to-purchase’ states, effectively I’ve broken the law by simply possessing ‘unpermitted’ firearms.
With as much as I move every few years, I can’t see how that’s legal. According to Whiteknight’s post, am I required to register my handguns even though I haven’t bought them in Baltimore County (essentially have imported them along with all of my other household goods)?
Tripler
Huzzah semantics!
Huh? Our M-16/A1’s and /A2’s were stored with bolts in them at every Army duty station I was ever at.
It’s a more common practice with bolt-action rifles. I’ve been told that it’s often done at National Guard armories, where theft is a serious threat due to limited physical security.
Any decent gunstore will:
sell you a silicon gun cloth- wipe all metal surfaces down carefully with this before storing.
Sell you a gun-lock.
Tell you how to store those particular guns safely.
There are some big gun experts here. If you tell us what sort of guns, they will likely provide that last info for you too.
Speaking for Massachusetts law only:
If you live in the state, and want to buy a firearm, you need to obtain the relevant permit (LTC A, LTC B, or FID) ahead of time. No gun dealer will sell you a firearm without one, and a private person who sells you a gun without verifying you have the correct permit is committing a crime.
If you buy a rifle or shotgun out of state, while you are a MA resident, you must report it to the state with a FA-10 (I think) form, where you verify that you have the correct permit. It is of course, against federal law to buy a handgun in a state other than your state of residence unless you have it shipped FFL->FFL, in which case the local FFL will verify your permit before allowing you to take possession of the handgun.
If you legally own firearms in your state of residence, and move to MA, you have some period of time (I think it was 90 days when I moved here back in 93), to get the correct permit for the firearms you own. You are not, however, required to inform the state of what firearms you brought with you. If you do not get the required permit, you have to remove the firearms from the state.
Seriously? Wow.
I reiterate that I don’t understand anything east of the Mississip.
Procedure for moving to Colorado with firearms -
- Move to state
NH, for the record, is still that way. No registration required for ANY firearms purchase (standard, non-automatic or non-special weapons). You also do not need a permit to carry openly (visible to the public) but you do need a CCL for concealed carry.
It tends to be the more liberal states, that restrict ownership & use in ways that only impact the lawful, well intentioned owners. I’d go on, but this is GQ, and not GD or the Pit.
what **drdeth ** said. go to a gun shop for assistance. several years ago, my young nephew inherited all of my father’s ww2-vintage rifles and handguns, including his treasured m1 garand.
as dad was a resident of florida, and my sister and i lived in indiana, we girls decided that the best way to handle getting the weapons legally from florida to indiana (we had gone down to florida for funeral services, etc.) would be to **go ** to a gun store and let them deal with it, since neither of us had a clue what we were supposed to do as far as the state of florida was concerned.
as it turned out, it was painless - especially since the items were not a purchase. the store had an in-house ffl who knew how to pack and ship the goods for us and they arrived home within a few business days.
ymmy, depending on the state.
Well, things are moving along much faster than I expected. My grandfather passed away on March 2 so this entire process has been further complicated. I wrote to the sheriff’s office in the NY county where my grandparents live and they told me that while from NY’s perspective I’m free to take the long guns, the handgun must be surrendered to the local police authority within 15 days of death. Now officially, my grandmother owns all of the guns since I don’t think there was anything written down in the will about me getting them. However, she doesn’t have a pistol license so she’d have to surrender it just the same.
After surrender, the manager of the estate can make arrangements to transfer it to a NY FFL and then an MD FFL.
It turns out that I don’t need any sort of licensing to possess any of the guns in MD, just to buy a handgun.
On Trigger Locks
The most popular trigger lock is made by Master and it is a very good one. However it was designed for use on a double action revolver. There are very few firearms that have enough room behind the trigger for this style gun lock. You will hear from some that they can still be used even if there is no room for the bolt to fit behind the trigger(to block its movement). “Don’t count on it”.
Like Gary M stated earlier in this thread, Cable locks work very well, and can secure most all guns.
Sorry its a passion of mine.