My question mainly pertains to the fact or not if I have to have the shops FFL copy to send to them. I've been told by the buyer of the shotgun that the shop that will receive it does not give out copies of its FFL. Seems odd...
Needing an FFL presumes the gun is post-1898; before the magic date it is an antique and can be shipped no different than a Beanie Baby.
(1) A modern gun needs a signed copy of the receiving dealer's FFL in the hands of the non-FFL gun-shipper to comply with the law and regs.
(2) Somewhere buried in the regulations is a provision for written notice to the USPS or UPS or FedX; I simply put a Post-it on the box saying that "This is a pre-/post-1898 long gun." I have the postmaster initial it and put it with my copy of the signed FFL. My postmaster has never asked to see the FFL; I have so much trouble with the numb-nuts at the UPS 1-800 schedule-for-pick-up number that I have sold all my UPS stock and use the USPS exclusively.
(3) The last time I looked at the regs it specifically said that a photocopy of the receiving dealers FFL had to be "signed in ink on its face." I am in the process of having a gun sent to my FFL here in Illinois from Arizona by a non-FFL; my FFL says a faxed copy is now legal, so I guess the actual inked signature on the FFL copy in the hands of the non-FFL shipper has been done away with. But he still must have a valid copy.
As I understand the logic in all this, having a copy of the FFL in the shipper's hands verifies the ship-to FFL's address, and protects the non-FFL gun-shipper from sending the gun to a non-legally-entitled person. The penalty for cutting corners can be severe. Depending on the situation it might be a good idea to call the receiving FFL to confirm delivery hours or some such, thus verifying the
bona fides. If a supposed FFL will not provide a signed copy of his FFL to a non-FFL gun-shipper, then he is unfamiliar with the process, and you should get a different FFL who is up to speed. EDM
