Law regarding receiving a handgun from a deceased family member?

[madelf]

I don't own any firearms, so please bear with my ignorance on the subject.

My father passed away a couple of years ago, and owned a few handguns and rifles that are sitting in my mother's attic. She said that I can have the .38 revolver. I am 25 years old. I will only be taking the gun out of my home to shoot it at a firing range.

My question is, what are the rules regarding me taking ownership of the gun? Do I have to take it somewhere and have it registered in my name, or is this unnessary? If I do need to have it registered, where/how do I go about this?

My other question is, how do my mother and I go about selling the other guns? Can we simply take them to a gun store and sell them? Can we put an ad in a newspaper/magazine?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Pa. Patriot]

As long as you are not a "prohibited person" (per §6106) you do not need to do anything to take possession.

Child to parent (and visa versa) are legal in PA and no transfer required.

{§6111. Sale or transfer of firearms.}

§ 6111. Sale or transfer of firearms.
--snip--
(c) Duty of other persons.--Any person who is not a licensed
importer, manufacturer or dealer and who desires to sell or
transfer a firearm to another unlicensed person shall do so only
upon the place of business of a licensed importer, manufacturer,
dealer or county sheriff's office, the latter of whom shall
follow the procedure set forth in this section as if he were the
seller of the firearm. The provisions of this section shall not
apply to transfers between spouses or to transfers between a
parent and child or to transfers between grandparent and
grandchild.

--snip

As for the other guns. You can take them to a dealer or you can sell them yourself. Long guns do not need transferred through an FFL but handguns will.

[lildobe]

The way I understand the law, and keep in mind - IANAL, when your Father died, the ownership of the weapons passed to your Mother.

She, as your mother, can give you any of these weapons without any type of "transfer", since in PA transfers between parent and child or grandparent and grandchild require no paperwork.

[Xringshooter]

madelf,
I'm going to send you a PM with my phone number. I am a FFL in State College and if you call I'll explain what you can/cannot do, and give you some hints/tips on selling if that's what you want to do.

[madelf]

Hey everyone, thank you for the info.

Xringshooter, I recieved your message, and I really appreciate your help. I will most likely be contacting you with some questions in the coming weeks. Just want to make sure I handle this situation legally

[caldwelljoe]

Originally Posted by madelf

I don't own any firearms, so please bear with my ignorance on the subject.

My father passed away a couple of years ago, and owned a few handguns and rifles that are sitting in my mother's attic. She said that I can have the .38 revolver. I am 25 years old. I will only be taking the gun out of my home to shoot it at a firing range.

My question is, what are the rules regarding me taking ownership of the gun? Do I have to take it somewhere and have it registered in my name, or is this unnessary? If I do need to have it registered, where/how do I go about this?

My other question is, how do my mother and I go about selling the other guns? Can we simply take them to a gun store and sell them? Can we put an ad in a newspaper/magazine?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

No bud,

In PA we may trade or give family members(brother, sister, Mom, Dad, Gramps, Grandma etc...) long guns and pistols. Just take possession and enjoy the inheritance.That is the law. By the way, that only applies to family. To sell a handgun you must go to a dealer and have them do a PIC check before the buyer can take the gun.

[dragonofpa]

Originally Posted by caldwelljoe

No bud,

In PA we may trade or give family members(brother, sister, Mom, Dad, Gramps, Grandma etc...) long guns and pistols. Just take possession and enjoy the inheritance.That is the law. By the way, that only applies to family. To sell a handgun you must go to a dealer and have them do a PIC check before the buyer can take the gun.

I thought this only applied to fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers.

[Pa. Patriot]

Originally Posted by caldwelljoe

In PA we may trade or give family members(brother, sister, Mom, Dad, Gramps, Grandma etc...) long guns and pistols. Just take possession and enjoy the inheritance.That is the law.

The answer was already given above, with citation of the law.

Please cite your source for this conflicting answer. (Brothers/sisters)

[Steve in PA]

You can give or sell rifles and shotgun back and forth between family members, or anyone for that matter.

You cannot trade or give handguns between brothers and sisters.

Parent and child or grandparent and child, that is the law.

There is a law in regards to lending a firearm to someone. As long as they have a license to carry or will keep the firearm in their residence or fixed place of business you can lend it to them. There is no law that says how long it can be loaned out though.

[lal]

From a parent to a child would leave no paper trail, and a transfer from sibling to sibling would leave no paper trail as well, as there is no proof as to which child received the handgun, wouldn't a law prohibiting such a transfer be unenforceable ? Assuming no actual Will stating who gets what.