NateIU10
Ultimate Member
https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/n...s-licensees-newsletter-february-2011/download
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Contiguous State
The “contiguous state” provisions of the Gun Control Act (GCA) generally permit unlicensed purchasers to acquire long guns from Federal firearms licensees (FFLs) located in a State contiguous to the State in which the purchaser resides if:
(1) the purchaser’s State of residence permitted such sale; and
(2) the sale fully complied with the legal conditions of sale in both such contiguous states.
This provision of the GCA was amended in 1986 to allow FFLs to sell or dispose of long guns to residents of any other state (not just contiguous states) provided:
1. the transferee meets in person with the FFL to accomplish the transfer; and
2. the sale, delivery and receipt fully comply with the legal conditions of sale in the buyer’s and seller’s States.
A number of States patterned their laws after the original provision of the GCA that allows nonresidents to purchase long guns from FFLs only in contiguous states. Many of those States have not revised their laws to reflect the 1986 amendments to the GCA that allow over-the-counter sales of long guns to residents of any State, as outlined above. This has caused confusion among FFLs, who often read such “contiguous state” State laws as prohibiting sales to residents of noncontiguous states.
ATF does not read State laws that refer to “contiguous states” as prohibiting sales of long guns to residents of noncontiguous states unless the language contained in that State’s law expressly prohibits residents from acquiring firearms outside that State. Thus, if the language in the State laws authorizes sales of long guns to residents of contiguous states, that State law also authorizes the sale of long guns to residents of all other states.