Questions Regarding Selling Firearms FROM CA Here in AZ

[High Standard]

This is NOT an offer to sell firearms. Depending on answers I will place ads in the proper forums. Please do not make offers in this thread.

I moved here to AZ less than a year ago and I don’t usually sell firearms as I am more a C&R collector/shooter. So I am asking for suggestions from everyone for the best way to sell a couple of firearms quickly and easily and legally. My brother is visiting from CA this weekend. He has a couple of firearms he no longer wants. One is an S&W AR-15, the other is an older Ruger Revolver which he inherited from our father.

He cannot sell either one in a private (FFL to FFL) sale since neither are on the CA Compliant List. Which also means they cannot be put on consignment at the LGS. And he asked around and no LGS around him wants them nor do they want them to put on Gun Broker to sell out of state. So he is bringing them with him.

We only have Saturday and Sunday to sell them. Here are my questions and if you have suggestions, I would love to hear them.

1. Is a face to face sale here legal because he is a CA resident? If so, can I place ads here on his behalf so he can sell them?

2. Can I just keep the guns and take my time to sell them here on his behalf? Or would it be better for me to buy them and then sell them? I have my C&R FFL and I am afraid of the implications that go along with the not buying and selling for profit aspect of my FFL.

3. I am thinking it would just be easiest to take them to an LGS and see if they will make an offer.

Did I miss anything? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

[Ballistic Therapy]

It sounds to me like they are both already illegal in california and not registered anywhere.
Is that true ?

If so I would think he could just gift them to you when he gets here and then you do what you want with them.
I am not a lawyer by any means , but that is what I think.

Screw california.

[Bard]

Your 03 license won't help you with the AR or Ruger, as neither is C&R. Don't even put them on the 03 book. Best bet, have them gifted to you, as one is a 'family heirloom.' I wouldn't do any paperwork on the gift, either. Highly recommend he gift you any of those "illegal" mags he might have, too.
Sell at your leisure, though, with the prices that even beater guns are going for now, you are likely to make your brother a tidy profit---IMHO

[cool arrow]

Best bet, have them gifted to you, as one is a 'family heirloom.' I wouldn't do any paperwork on the gift, either. Highly recommend he gift you any of those "illegal" mags he might have, too.

This is almost verbatim the advice I would give too.

Keep the Ruger, pass it down through the family. Shoot it, enjoy it. They don't make 'em like that anymore and is a memorial from father on down.

[High Standard]

It sounds to me like they are both already illegal in california and not registered anywhere.
Is that true ?

If so I would think he could just gift them to you when he gets here and then you do what you want with them.
I am not a lawyer by any means , but that is what I think.

Screw california.

My brother is not up on CA gun laws so I can only repeat to you what he told me. He told me when he bought the AR it had to be registered to him at the time of sale, which it is. But a year or two later they passed legislation to force AR owners to register them as “Assault Weapons” also. Which apparently he did not know this until just recently and the time has passed for him to do this. He apparently feels that it is illegal for him to own now due to this legislation. So now he just wants to get rid of it. I don’t know how true any of this is? I just know he no longer wants it.

The revolver is not registered but it is not illegal to own in CA either due to grandfather clause. It is just illegal to sell it inside of CA because it is not on the “List”. I would normally buy the gun from him for sentimental reasons except that I inherited the same gun from my father has he had bought 2 of them back in 1982.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[rockbronco]

I had a similar situation and since the pistol was on a "approved registered list" We ended up doing the deal here in AZ at a LGS so it could be on 4473 and he could submit the paperwork to remove his name in CA. At the time that was the legal way to do a CA to AZ deal which I believe is still the case.

I would suspect this is what you need to do for the AR since it was purchased in CA on paper originally and its probably still in his name and he may want to get paperwork showing its been sold legally rather then just disappearing.

The ruger should be no problem to FTF deal that depending on its age and likelihood it existed before any time of registration in CA did. However that would a good one to hold on to and pass down the line.

[MarkItZero]

I imagine they could be consigned by a dealer in AZ. An FFL is allowed to accept firearms from other ffls and private parties anywhere.

[XJThrottle]

Is he hard up for the cash?

Why not just hold onto them for him. He might someday move from that chit hole and wish he still had them..

[High Standard]

I imagine they could be consigned by a dealer in AZ. An FFL is allowed to accept firearms from other ffls and private parties anywhere.

This is what I was thinking would give him the most money and be the least hassle for me.

[High Standard]

Is he hard up for the cash?

Why not just hold onto them for him. He might someday move from that chit hole and wish he still had them..

No, he is not hard up for the cash. It’s a long story but he is getting old and starting to look at things as liabilities rather than assets. He is looking to get rid of stuff he doesn’t like or use. If his son wanted them he would just hand them down. But his son does not want them.

I have been trying very hard to get him to leave SoCal. But it is another long story. I’m afraid he is never going to leave. He is much older than I am and change is terrifying to him at this point.

That is a good idea about my just holding on to them for him. I’ll approach the idea to him along with moving again and see if anything has changed since the last time we talked about moving.

[delta6]

I imagine they could be consigned by a dealer in AZ. An FFL is allowed to accept firearms from other ffls and private parties anywhere.

This is what I was thinking would give him the most money and be the least hassle for me.

Here is one option if you are concerned. You do not need to consign them to a dealer. He could take them to a dealer and tell the dealer that he sold them to you and he would like the dealer to facilitate the transfer. Then you go to the dealer and fill out a 4473 and the transfer fee and take them home. This would be the government's legally preferred method if you have any concerns about taking possession of the firearms and plan to sell them.

18 USC 922 (a)(3), (a)(5) and (b)(3) are the Federal laws that require you to take or ship the handgun to an FFL in your brother's state of residence for transfer to him.

18 USC § 922 - Unlawful acts | Title 18 - Crimes and Criminal Procedure | U.S. Code | LII / Legal Information Institute

[QuietM4]

He just needs to give them to you as a gift. Do what you want with them.

[Bigfoot]

A revolver is illegal in CA? If so, what the hell is legal in that Commie state?

[Robert1234]

A revolver is illegal in CA? If so, what the hell is legal in that Commie state?

It's not about legal or illegal in that state. They have what they call a "roster of approved handguns", and if it's not on the list, you can't buy it from a dealer, consign it, or ship it within the state. You can do private party transfers, face to face only, and all gun sales in that cesspool of a state are required to go through a dealer.

AR type rifles have what are known as features that make them assault weapons. Pistol grip, detachable magazine, and flash hiders. Remove these features (pistol grip and flash hider) and you are ok to have a detachable magazine.

So people either fix the magazine so you have to open the action to change it, or set the rifle up as what is known as "featurless"; they put muzzle brakes and grip fins, Thorsden stocks, or other such nonsense to eliminate the ability of the thumb to go around the pistol grip at a point lower than the highest visible portion of the trigger.

if you go the fixed magazine route, you cannot use any greater than ten round magazines period. if you go the "featurless" route, you can use any magazine you have.

Greater than ten round magazines are legal to own, you just can't buy them, sell them, import them, manufacture or assemble them. Essentially, if you owned them before the CA assault weapons law went into effect (2000), you are legal to own and use them. There was also a week in 2019 I believe where a judge overturned the magazine limit law, and people could legally buy them. And they did, in huge numbers. Then it was over, and you could no longer buy them.

The state is garbage, run by garbage people. I left as soon as I could, and don't miss or regret that decision. I only wish I could have done it sooner.

[Bigfoot]

A revolver is illegal in CA? If so, what the hell is legal in that Commie state?

It's not about legal or illegal in that state. They have what they call a "roster of approved handguns", and if it's not on the list, you can't buy it from a dealer, consign it, or ship it within the state. You can do private party transfers, face to face only, and all gun sales in that cesspool of a state are required to go through a dealer.

AR type rifles have what are known as features that make them assault weapons. Pistol grip, detachable magazine, and flash hiders. Remove these features (pistol grip and flash hider) and you are ok to have a detachable magazine.

So people either fix the magazine so you have to open the action to change it, or set the rifle up as what is known as "featurless"; they put muzzle brakes and grip fins, Thorsden stocks, or other such nonsense to eliminate the ability of the thumb to go around the pistol grip at a point lower than the highest visible portion of the trigger.

if you go the fixed magazine route, you cannot use any greater than ten round magazines period. if you go the "featurless" route, you can use any magazine you have.

Greater than ten round magazines are legal to own, you just can't buy them, sell them, import them, manufacture or assemble them. Essentially, if you owned them before the CA assault weapons law went into effect (2000), you are legal to own and use them. There was also a week in 2019 I believe where a judge overturned the magazine limit law, and people could legally buy them. And they did, in huge numbers. Then it was over, and you could no longer buy them.

The state is garbage, run by garbage people. I left as soon as I could, and don't miss or regret that decision. I only wish I could have done it sooner.

I left there in 1987 when I joined the Air Force. Never looked back. So much for the Constitution and 2A.