I'm glad we can get such clear information on this site. Now I know exactly how I can import a gun I bought in the UK without going through excessive storage and pickup inconvenience. I guess the truth is that no one knows how to do it. I find it hard to believe that no one who posts on this site has purchased and brought a gun back from the UK and knows how he did it.
eightbore, there's no "storage" inconvenience on the shipping end. The British (or other overseas) dealer holds the gun for you, until you have an import permit. At that point, you notify him and he ships it. The only "storage" issue I can foresee would be if you need to pick the gun up directly from customs, the customs office in question is some distance from you, and you can't get there within a reasonable period of time.
I did have a problem with customs on a gun I bought overseas, when I was working for Uncle Sam back in the early 70's. Other people at the Embassy suggested I simply ship it home with my other household goods, but I decided to follow the letter of the law and ship it to a licensed dealer in my hometown. So advised the licensed dealer, shipped it to them, and it got stuck in customs in NY. Got a nasty letter from them, saying I owed them so much for storage etc. This was fairly early on in the gun control act days, and my dealer wasn't even aware of what forms he needed to get the gun out of customs--and they were not available locally. I pointed that out in a reply to NY customs office, also pointed out that the gun had been purchased on a US military base (sent them documentation to so prove), and eventually received my gun without having to pay any fees.
If you want to avoid any potential hassle, the simple way is to work with a dealer who has an import license. Yes, you'll pay for the service, but you'll also avoid problems.
Last edited by L. Brown; 06/27/07 07:27 AM.
