Selling Guns that Are Not Mine

[BigNate]

OK - looking for advice here. Close friends of my parents are in the end stages of life and as I'm the family "gun guy" they asked me to "hold" his guns for them given his dementia and concerns about safety. I've had them in my safe for a year or so (4-5 guns - nothing particularly sexy other than a very nice over / under 12ga). The wife reached out yesterday and asked that I send the shotgun to her brother in law (out of state) and sell the remaining guns.

So - two questions...
1) I'm not setting up a business to sell guns - and I'm morally OK with selling them and giving her the money - but am I breaking any laws (specific to gun sales) by selling these for her? If so - I think I'll buy them from her at a price maybe 10% under market - then sell them and give her whatever I get over the price I paid.


2) I've never done an FFL transfer as a seller - I've only sold F2F in state. The brother in law provided me an FFL in his state that he wants me to use. I've looked for a simple process document but the ATF is what they are - not a customer service industry. So far I think that I:
* Use the ATF site to validate the FFL that was sent - and confirm the address (done - it is good)
* Call the FFL holder and let him know that the gun is coming
* Pack up the gun and send it to the FFL insured for the amount I suspect that the gun is worth and with signature required for delivery.
* Call the FFL and the my friend's brother - give them both the tracking number.
* Cross my fingers that the gun makes it to the FFL

Am I missing something that is a normal part of this process?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Lobo2087]

Private in state sales are legal. I know of nothing which prohibits someone from helping in a sale and if you are not profiting it would be difficult to corelate you as a gun dealer. Simply abide by regulations on private sales and you are good in my opinion. I think it you buy them and immediately sell for more than you paid it would be arguable you are buying and selling for profit so I would be wary of that

Out of state my opinion is always go with ffl better safe than sorry. It is easy. You receive money and then have shipped to their ffl who handles the rest of the transfer

 

[Suck My Glock]

It's a sign of your good character that you worry about this. But this is one of those things you can easily over-think it.

I've done this several times for friends and family. I essentially tell them what I think they would go for if they consigned them at a gun shop, and what I think I could likely turn them around for quick and dirty at a gun show. The gun show route has always been how it has been done. If the group is large enough, I rent a table. Between my connections on here and elsewhere, normally everything gets sold in a matter of days before the next gun show.

When I did this, was I "in the business" of selling guns for a profit. Hell no. I usually never get any reward for it and just do so as a favor out of loyalty. My reward is good karma that comes back to me.

Although sometimes, there is that one dog of a weapon that just doesn't sell, and I have had the owners tell me "well, just hold onto it til it does sell, no hurry", and time passes and they forget or abandon it and just sort of by osmosis becomes one of those several old clunkers populating the garage.

 

[BigNate]

It's a sign of your good character that you worry about this. But this is one of those things you can easily over-think it.

I've done this several times for friends and family. I essentially tell them what I think they would go for if they consigned them at a gun shop, and what I think I could likely turn them around for quick and dirty at a gun show. The gun show route has always been how it has been done. If the group is large enough, I rent a table. Between my connections on here and elsewhere, normally everything gets sold in a matter of days before the next gun show.

When I did this, was I "in the business" of selling guns for a profit. Hell no. I usually never get any reward for it and just do so as a favor out of loyalty. My reward is good karma that comes back to me.

Although sometimes, there is that one dog of a weapon that just doesn't sell, and I have had the owners tell me "well, just hold onto it til it does sell, no hurry", and time passes and they forget or abandon it and just sort of by osmosis becomes one of those several old clunkers populating the garage.

I probably am over-thinking it - but that's how I'm wired... The "buy them from her and resell them" was really just a hedge against there being some law prohibiting me from doing it the other way. For clarity - either way - every penny of the proceeds will go back to her - I just want to avoid buying them for $2000 and selling them for $1900 and being out cash. I'd rather buy them for $1500, sell them for $1900 and hand her another $400 after the final sales are made (if that is necessary).

It sounds like I probably don't need to add the step. Thanks much for the info.

 

[BigNate]

Private in state sales are legal. I know of nothing which prohibits someone from helping in a sale and if you are not profiting it would be difficult to corelate you as a gun dealer. Simply abide by regulations on private sales and you are good in my opinion. I think it you buy them and immediately sell for more than you paid it would be arguable you are buying and selling for profit so I would be wary of that

Out of state my opinion is always go with ffl better safe than sorry. It is easy. You receive money and then have shipped to their ffl who handles the rest of the transfer

Thanks much. Other than the gun going to the brother - I'll be selling the F2F in state only requiring to see an AZDL (pretty comfortable with that sort of private party sale). As noted above - 100% of what I get will go back to his wife.

As to the one going out of state - I'll absolutely be using an FFL - I'm just looking for info on the process of shipping to an out of state FFL. Someone contacted me directly and suggested that paying a local FFL to handle the transfer to the remote FFL might be money well spent. I'm going to look into this and if it is not a ton of cash to do this I'll probably go that route - just for the peace of mind.

 

[h8pvmnt]

For a Rifle or a Shotgun i believe you can ship it directly to an FFL yourself as long as you follow the shippers requirements (declare, insure, correct shipping speed, double boxed etc) and i believe UPS ground is ok on a long gun. Red label or 2 day is required for a handgun i think on ups. The FFL on the other end has to be willing to accept a firearm from a non FFL.

 

[Lobo2087]

You can but it is good to contact the receiving ffl first. Some prefer ffl to ffl others will accept private to ffl no problem