My grandfather passed away a few years ago and my grandmother this summer. They had an old revolver which isn't worth much but we want to keep in the family. It wasn't left to anyone specifically.

Here's the situation - my grandparents lived in Arizona. My uncle from Washington claimed the pistol, but now he passed away not quite a month ago. Nobody else on that side of the family is into guns so nobody in Washington wants it, so by default it's going to my mother who lives in Louisiana but ultimately she wants it to go to me and I live in Ohio.

1. Can my cousin in Washington ship it to my mother in Louisiana without having to go through a FFL? It's now her property and you can ship a firearm to yourself, but it's in the hands of her neice in Washington.

or

2. Since the pistol wasn't left to anyone specific, can we declare it MY property and have my cousin ship it to me in Ohio without going through a FFL? Otherwise my understanding is that we'd have to do a transfer once my mom gets ahold of it.

or

3. It's an OLDE Hopkins & Allen in something .32 so it may be a curio/relic. Is the point with the FFL moot?

and finally,

4. If a train leaves LA headed east at 75 mph and a train leaves Chicago headed west at 60 mph, what did the conductor eat for breakfast?

Thanks for any insight which will keep me and my kin from running afoul with the law.

That's confusing but if the handgun transfers ownership across state lines it must go through an FFL.

Depending on the state it may have to go through an FFL even for instate transfer.

Other laws may be in effect depending on the state.

edited to add.

1. You say it's her property and that's fine but was it ever transferred to her through an FFL. If not then it needs to go through an FFL

2. If it hasn't gone through an FFL to you then it needs to for you to take possession of it.

3. Do you have a CCR? If not it doesn't matter even if the gun is considered one.

4. eggs. he always easts eggs.

First off, the curio and relic status has no impact unless you have a 03 FFL, Collector of curios and relics.

As a beneficiary of an estate the pistol need not be transferred through an FFL; however, non-licensee's can't ship handguns via the FEDEX or US Mail, and UPS costs an arm and a leg.

The US Mail is a statutory provision, 18 USC 1715, that makes a non-licensee a felon for shipping via the Mail.

FEDEX will only ship to licensee's. That's their tariff.

UPS will ship a handgun to a non-licensee (I.e., to yourself), but it's prohibitively expensive, > $100.

Your two best options are:

1. To travel to Washington to claim it and bring it back with you, or

2. Have a Washington-based FFL ship it to your licensee in Ohio, and do the usual transfer paperwork. Licensee's can ship handguns via the US Mail, and Priority Mail runs about $15, plus another $25 for the shipper, plus another $25 to do the transfer to you in Ohio.

quote:

Originally posted by asonie:
4. If a train leaves LA headed east at 75 mph and a train leaves Chicago headed west at 60 mph, what did the conductor eat for breakfast?

The conductor had lots of swallows.

If the gun was made before 1898 you will not need to transfer it using an FFL. If you can't date it before then it would have to go through an FFL.

quote:

Originally posted by asonie:
4. If a train leaves LA headed east at 75 mph and a train leaves Chicago headed west at 60 mph, what did the conductor eat for breakfast?

The giant rat that jumped to the 3rd rail and completed the circuit. Then it wasn't drawing any current and was no longer a conductor.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Your two best options are:

1. To travel to Washington to claim it and bring it back with you,

^This. Have them hold onto it for a bit until you travel out there. Then acquire and transport it home. Easy peasy.

I’d go get it when you visit next, if that’s not going to happen, have the person in Washington, go to an FFL and have it shipped to you thru your FFL in (your state), you pay the FFL on your end for the transfer.

The FFL can ship thru the us mail and it’s cheaper than any other way of shipping.

Orrrrr, You are also allowed to ship a firearm to yourself thru fedex or ups..go visit, mail it to yourself back home.

I agree with both of Sig2340's options. If you're going to be out that way, get it when you're there. If you're not, just have it sent to an FFL and pay the transfer fee. With a little searching you can probably find somebody that is reasonably cheap. Also look into Ship My Gun as it may lower the cost for your cousin to ship to your local FFL by quite a bit.

If you go to Washington state to "take possession" you may have to use an FFL anyway due to their new laws there. The easiest thing to do would be to have them ship it to an FFL in your state and have them transfer it to you.

Keep in mind that Washington has universal background checks. All transfers of guns have to undergo it.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9.41.113

That said nobody has been prosecuted to date

It might not even be a gun. Depends on when it was made, it might just be an antique. None of the BS mentioned here applies if it dates to pre 1898

Just ship it via DHL.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:

4. eggs. he always easts eggs.

While I have no helpful answer for questions 1-3, I must add that the conductor always eats Bacon (must be capitalized at all times!) with his eggs!

Heck, my grandfather ate Bacon every day of his life and he lived to be.....
Well, he ate Bacon every day of his life!!

Have someone take it apart & ship everything but the frame to you.

State laws will need to be checked but federal law May allow you to pick it up.
https://johnpierceesq.com/what...ed-in-another-state/

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:
State laws will need to be checked but federal law May allow you to pick it up.
https://johnpierceesq.com/what...ed-in-another-state/

Oh for god sake. Screw Arizona law, he doesn't live there. Pick up the damn gun, take it home, and consider this done. We all lament far too much about these stupid gun laws. For Christ sake, the Fed's can't or won't even prosecute known cases of straw buying nationwide, yet we lament over stuff like this between family members.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
First off, the curio and relic status has no impact unless you have a 03 FFL, Collector of curios and relics.

As a beneficiary of an estate the pistol need not be transferred through an FFL; however, non-licensee's can't ship handguns via the FEDEX or US Mail, and UPS costs an arm and a leg.

The US Mail is a statutory provision, 18 USC 1715, that makes a non-licensee a felon for shipping via the Mail.

FEDEX will only ship to licensee's. That's their tariff.

UPS will ship a handgun to a non-licensee (I.e., to yourself), but it's prohibitively expensive, > $100.

Your two best options are:

1. To travel to Washington to claim it and bring it back with you, or

2. Have a Washington-based FFL ship it to your licensee in Ohio, and do the usual transfer paperwork. Licensee's can ship handguns via the US Mail, and Priority Mail runs about $15, plus another $25 for the shipper, plus another $25 to do the transfer to you in Ohio.

quote:

Originally posted by asonie:
4. If a train leaves LA headed east at 75 mph and a train leaves Chicago headed west at 60 mph, what did the conductor eat for breakfast?

The conductor had lots of swallows.

This is the right answer. Using an FFL is probably the easiest way and cheapest, even though it is not necessary for a transfer from an estate.

While I generally discourage lawlessness, in this case I would simply go get my property laws be damned.


If it went to your uncle years ago, it likely was not transferred, and even if it was it was before the abortion of laws we Washingtonians had foisted upon us last year.

Do your LOCAL laws require registration? If not, than I see no need whatsoever for a paper trail. Up until last year I could gift a firearm without transfer and there is no registration in Washington so nothing to say it wasn’t yours.

Is there registration in Az? Was it registered there? Don’t think this is going to show up at a crime scene, so long as nothing required locally for you to own/possess I’d just get it and keep the goobermint in the dark.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:
State laws will need to be checked but federal law May allow you to pick it up.
https://johnpierceesq.com/what...ed-in-another-state/

Oh for god sake. Screw Arizona law, he doesn't live there. Pick up the damn gun, take it home, and consider this done. We all lament far too much about these stupid gun laws. For Christ sake, the Fed's can't or won't even prosecute known cases of straw buying nationwide, yet we lament over stuff like this between family members.

Do you really think he had no idea he could disregard all laws and go get it himself? I am certain he already knew that so stating the obvious isn’t helping much is it?

WRT to Washington UBC law, there is an exception for firearms acquired by the death of the owner, but it is time-limited.

quote:

(h) A person who ... (ii) acquired a pistol by operation of law upon the death of the former owner of the pistol within the preceding sixty days. At the end of the sixty-day period, the person must either have lawfully transferred the pistol or must have contacted the department of licensing to notify the department that he or she has possession of the pistol and intends to retain possession of the pistol, in compliance with all federal and state laws...

Hopkins & Allen went out of business in 1916 so there's 19 years of operation when the guns they made wouldn't be considered antiques. I'd do everything I could to date it definitively and hope you can establish it was made prior to 1898 so it has antique status.