A few years ago, maybe 2009, I found myself in a gun store in Michigan. I purchased a new rifle, wrapped the box in brown paper, took it to the post office and mailed it to myself back home. At the PO I was clear as to what was in the box. No problem.
Today, I find myself wanting to ship another rifle to a friend in Michigan. Has anything changed that would prevent me from using the Postal Service?
You cannot ship a firearm to another person. You are transferring the possession of the firearm, so it will require an FFL to transfer.
You are only allowed to mail a firearm to yourself. You may also mail it yourself using your friend’s address “care of”, but he is not allowed to open the box until you arrive to take possession of your firearm.
Really? :dubious:
I can see this for handguns which are more tightly controlled than long guns, but rifles and shotguns are barely regulated in some places, and not regulated in others. So, ummm, “cite”? 
Willing to be corrected,
J.
My father was a gun dealer and solosam is correct. You can’t ship firearms to another person in another state directly. You have to ship it to a licensed firearms dealer and have the dealer do the transfer. The situation comes up often enough and many dealers will accept delivery and do the transfer for a smallish fee. The reasons for this law are obvious. Without it, someone could have hundreds of ‘friends’ across the country and set up a firearms trafficking network through the mail.
Already answered by Shagnasty, but here’s a citation:
“Barely Regulated”? What does that mean? Federal laws on firearms are the same across all states. How can you claim that they are “not regulated” in some places? Can you name any of these places?
They are “barely regulated” in the sense that you can do a face-to-face sale of a longarm in every state without transferring ownership through a FFL holder. Perhaps you’ve heard of this by another name, the “gun show loophole”.
You can do that with pistols in many (most?) states as well. But, he said long guns are “barely regulated” in some places. How so? And where?
I could just completely re-type what I posted, but that would be a dick move. So, let’s just say that he was talking about what I said, vastly overstated the case, and leave it at that.
I’m pretty sure that this is not true in California. You can buy and sell firearms at a gun show, but the transaction must be made through an FFL holder, registered through CA DoJ, and wait 10 or 15 days to receive your firearm.
Johnny, the “gun show loophole” that the Brady Campaign has expended such time and effort to eliminate is nothing more than the ability of one gun owner to transfer ownership of a weapon to another without having to go through a FFL holder or run a background check. It is not literally about gun shows. You can do the same thing on the street. Since those transfers require no background check or paperwork, they are “unregulated”, even though it is the regulations that exist that allow you to do it.
Well, how about that. Unless it’s a C&R firearm You DO have to go through a FFL in California. I stand corrected.
You beat me to it. 
My point is that in such places that one can buy a long gun face to face with no dealer, one may also do so with a pistol. jHarvey stated that “I can see this for handguns which are more tightly controlled than long guns, but rifles and shotguns are barely regulated in some places”. Your response about “gun show loop holes” has nothing to do with his statement, unless you would like to show me a state where one can purchase long guns from an individual but not pistols.
He also claimed that long guns are “not regulated” in some places. Yet, the federal laws (as I stated in my post), are universal across all states.
Why you keep going on about gun shows is not clear. Why you think that merely repeating your prior irrelevant post would somehow get the point across is also not clear. Why don’t you read his statement, then read my reply and re-read yours. Then tell me if you think gun shows has anything to do with what he was talking about.
And if you do, please tell me what gun shows allow you to buy rifles from individuals, but not pistols.
in Michigan, person-to-person transfers of long guns are allowed with no intermediary needed. Person-to-person handgun transfers are permitted, however the buyer still has to go to their police station and apply for/receive a handgun purchase permit just like buying from a dealer.
Pennsylvania allows FTF sales of longarms but not handguns without the use of a FFL holder. There, I have just shown you a state where one can purchase longarms from an individual face to face but not a handgun.
The transfer of firearms without a background check is referred to as the “gun show loophole” by anti-gun people and primarily applies to longarms. Get it now? To all appearances the FTF transfer of a longarms without a FFL running a check is “unregulated”, and it is patently obvious that that is what he was referring to.
I second this. I bought a vintage WW2 carbine off a guy at a show in Los Angeles. He explained there would be no special record of this sale (government registration, I mean - he did give me a receipt in case it had problems) because it was > 50 years old, and thus qualified as a curio or relic (the C&R referred to). Other more modern guns, even rifles, would’ve had to have the special registration whatever it was.
Pistols are more tightly controlled, but IMHO not overly so. U pretty much can buy anything u want, just as deadly as all the other states. I not only had to do the special registration, but wait 10 days, get fingerprinted, and take a 40-question test (I have firearms experience, but really, the test was 95% common sense).
In both cases, sending anything thru any mail, would’ve been more complicated, requiring the FFL xfer. Having looked into this, the fees ran $50-$75. Mind you, this was 2008, pre-Obama so I have no idea how much they’ve shot up now (pun intended). :dubious:
From California Firearms Laws 2007:
It seems to me that the Federal law on Curios & Relics is rather broad, and it seems strange that California would allow the transfer of a firearm that is functionally identical to, say, an HK-91 or FAL, which were both on California’s banned list. A crime may have been committed if the seller sold, and you bought, the standard magazine with the carbine (assuming it was an M1 Carbine), which holds 15 rounds.
In any case, transfers of the vast majority of firearms (i.e., not C&R or ‘antique’) must be made through a dealer.
As to the fees, the dealer may charge up to $25 for instruction and a Handgun Safety Certificate. When I was in California, the DoJ fee was $14. AFAIK, dealers may charge what they want for private transfers. Up here, they run $25 (most places) to $35. Gunbroker.com has a database of FFL holders, and you can see who is in your area and how much they charge. Some FFL holders may take advantage of paranoia over ‘things that might happen’ and charge more. Others may believe that keeping their self-determined fees reasonable will result in more business, or that they will create more gun owners.
Here are a couple of interesting (to me) rules from up here in Washington: 1) A black powder firearm (which is not a ‘firearm’ under Federal law) is treated as a firearm here. That means going through a dealer (except for private sales) and a waiting period, unless you hold a Concealed Carry Permit. 2) It is legal in Washington to own a silencer (Federal laws still apply), but it is prohibited to actually use (or install?) one.