doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Canada's gun registry

Without a receipt is when the form 4457 becomes necessary if US Customs stops you when returning to the US. All you have to do to get one is show the gun, or other item, to US Customs before leaving the US.

Van, I see now, thanks for that information.
Hey, that's life in the U.S.A., sometimes you're at a bar you go home with a little sexy kitten, sometimes you go home alone and sometimes you go home with a shotgun.


Living here is tough on a guy!!!

What if you are driving to Alaska and want to have your big bore handgun because you will be fishing in bear country. What is the best way to get it there - ship it?

Thats what I plan to do. The handgun is way to hard to impossible to bring across the border. There are plenty of dealers who will hold it for you, especially if you promise to buy your ammo there. You have to ship UPS or FedEx, USPS won't take it.

Also, I believe that handguns have to be shipped FFL to FFL, even if you are in actuality shipping it to yourself.

Your can do to,it is a bit pricey however if you obey the UPS/FedEx "rule" of overnight shipping (to prevent theft by employees).You can as a nonlicensee ship a hand gun to yourself or a FFL (both 01 and 03 if qualified)by common carrier-no FFL required on the shippers end.A long gun if unlicensed,and hand gun if by FFL,can be shipped USPS ,again to a FFL or yourself.

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/unlicensed-persons.html#shipping-firearms-carrier
Q: May a nonlicensee ship a firearm by common or contract carrier?

A nonlicensee may ship a firearm by a common or contract carrier to a resident of his or her own State or to a licensee in any State. A common or contract carrier must be used to ship a handgun. In addition, Federal law requires that the carrier be notified that the shipment contains a firearm and prohibits common or contract carriers from requiring or causing any label to be placed on any package indicating that it contains a firearm.

[18 U.S.C. 922(a)(2)(A), 922(a) (3), 922(a)(5) and 922(e), 27 CFR 478.31 and 478.30]
Q: May a nonlicensee ship firearms interstate for his or her use in hunting or other lawful activity?

Yes. A person may ship a firearm to himself or herself in care of another person in the State where he or she intends to hunt or engage in any other lawful activity. The package should be addressed to the owner. Persons other than the owner should not open the package and take possession of the firearm.

Thanks for the info. Its often difficult to distinguish between what is prohibited by law and what is prohibited by the contract carrier's local policy. For instance, it is clearly legal to ship an unloaded, disclosed long gun to a resident of one's own state. No FFL required on either end. So when I ship a shotgun to my buddy in Pocatello, ID for some stock work, I use my local UPS with no problems. But when he tries to ship it back to me, his local UPS depo in Pocatello refuses to take delivery. He's gone round and round with them over it and even showed them the ATF regs. They tell him that they don't care, its their own local policy only to accept firearm shipments from an FFL, and this is in gun friendly Idaho. To get my shotgun back to me, he uses Fed Ex. So if you try to ship a handgun to yourself in another state, don't be too surprised if the carrier refuses to take shipment either under a mistaken belief as to a legal prohibiton, or pursuant to their own policy.

Hopefully:
If and when sanity ever returns to our Country perhaps we can get some much needed revamping of the more inane BATF regulations. It literally takes a Phildelphia Lawyer to even attempt to intrepret some of their policies. It's understandable, at least to some degree, why common carriers err on the side of caution.
Jim