Hypothetical Selling Question....

[NIK]

I have a friend out of state whose father passed away and left her his collection of guns. She knows firearms are a hobby of mine so she's asked my help in selling them. Here's the problem... I'm not sure if I even can. She's in upstate NY and I'm in VA. She has no idea about guns so I'm not entirely sure what she has. Lots of long guns, probably some AR's and quite possibly a few SBR's and maybe even some class III.

Of course I want to do everything legally and with a paper trail, so I figured I'd help her sell them on Gunbroker so I could transfer to an FFL and they could process any necessary paperwork. Question is, do I have to walk her through the whole process or or is there any way I could take possession of them and sell for her from VA?

 

[-Z/28-]

I can't help with the NFA stuff; but for the standard fare, all of it would have to go through an FFL to transfer across state lines to you. My recommendation would be either A.) Plan a quick trip up to NY to inventory and value them for her or B.) Have her take detailed photos of everything and send them to you.

Also, before you go the Gunbroker route, you could list what she has here. We may be interested and will pay fair prices.

 

[NIK]

That's what I was thinking too, but it's the actual sale and shipping she doesn't want to deal with.

So the only way I could legally do it is by transferring each one through my FFL and getting a background check for all of them? I'm not sure how many she has, but her dad was quite a collector, so I'm guessing more than 20 at least. SO hypothetically, I'd have to get a separate background check 20 times?

 

[Markp]

The best course of action here for her is probably to put them on consignment with a local FFL willing to do the work. She might arguably make less money, however, that's not a big concern.

A second VERY interesting possibility however, is that if this collection contains class III and other NFA weapons that are C&R, would be to apply for a C&R license. The turn around time for a C&R license is relatively quick and the benefit of having one with the right weapons collected should not be underestimated.

With a C&R license you could simply drive up transfer any non-NFA C&R weapons to yourself, fill out the NFA paperwork and when the tax forms went through, after the stamps are cashed transfer those C&R NFA weapons to yourself. Since she's going to have to transfer via a tax stamp to a dealer or an individual, there will be at least one $200 stamp for each NFA item she owns and transfers. Question is who will pay the stamp, I am assuming you are hoping to snag some good deals for yourself.

Mark

PS - BTW, ATF does pay attention to the "hypothetical" questions people ask and use that as probable cause for investigations at times. Nothing wrong with asking the question, you want to do everything legally and are not trying to circumvent the law, and it's a good question.

Read this to see the kinds of things the ATF is willing to do to catch people engaged in illegal activities, they don't play around when they get it in their head that you have done something illegal.

http://www.justice.gov/usao/cae/news/docs/2012/06-2012/06-01-12McGowenOrder Affadavit.pdf

 

[Gbh]

I would ask her to look for any paperwork he might have had.

 

[NIK]

The best course of action here for her is probably to put them on consignment with a local FFL willing to do the work. She might arguably make less money, however, that's not a big concern.

A second VERY interesting possibility however, is that if this collection contains class III and other NFA weapons that are C&R, would be to apply for a C&R license. The turn around time for a C&R license is relatively quick and the benefit of having one with the right weapons collected should not be underestimated.

With a C&R license you could simply drive up transfer any non-NFA C&R weapons to yourself, fill out the NFA paperwork and when the tax forms went through, after the stamps are cashed transfer those C&R NFA weapons to yourself. Since she's going to have to transfer via a tax stamp to a dealer or an individual, there will be at least one $200 stamp for each NFA item she owns and transfers. Question is who will pay the stamp, I am assuming you are hoping to snag some good deals for yourself.

Mark

PS - BTW, ATF does pay attention to the "hypothetical" questions people ask and use that as probable cause for investigations at times. Nothing wrong with asking the question, you want to do everything legally and are not trying to circumvent the law, and it's a good question.

Read this to see the kinds of things the ATF is willing to do to catch people engaged in illegal activities, they don't play around when they get it in their head that you have done something illegal.

http://www.justice.gov/usao/cae/news/docs/2012/06-2012/06-01-12McGowenOrder Affadavit.pdf

I honestly don't want to mess with any NFA stuff, out of my league. From the sounds of it, I plan to check if my FFL will cut me a deal on transfer fees, or find a spot near her willing to do good rates on consignment.

Totally agree on the intricacies of "hypothetical" questions being watched, that's why I try to keep my nose clean best I can. My first thought was that non-regulated items (shotguns, bolt actions, etc) should be OK, but glad I checked first. Other than that parking ticket from ten years ago I never paid, I'm pretty solid. Trying to keep it that way