new resident to PA (German with green card)

[rocafella1978]

hi everyone, i have a few questions to ask everyone, and i apologize in advance for any dumb sounding questions/ or asking questions already asked/ posted in the forum already. (admin will move thread if need be.)

1) my wife and I would like to own and purchase a handgun & a rifle, what is required for us to have to be able to purchase these? forms? documentation?

2) how can my wife and I, own and use the same handgun & rifle, to make sure legally is permitted for both to own & use the same handgun & rifle. forms? documentation?

3) what do we require to submit in forms? documentations? for allowing us to conceal carry the handgun?

4) what do we require to be able to purchase suppressors for our handgun & rifle as in forms? documentations?

thank you all for your answers in advance, your patience with newbies and support/ help!

[zlaya]

Freunde, willkommen in der freien Staat Pennsylvania.

What you will find is that in our beautiful Pennsylvania the laws pertaining to purchase/ownership/carrying of firearms are much more lax than what you will find in Deuschland.

Below you will find a great start for your research, and I am sure other members will come in to welcome you as well, and provide you with additional information.

http://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/state...nsylvania.aspx

Purchase is very straight forward - Clean criminal record meaning no offenses which can result in more than one year in prison, or involuntary commission to mental health facility. For rifles you must be 18+ years of age, for handguns 21+ years of age. You may share weapons with your wife provided your marriage is legally recognized by state of PA. Luckily in our state, there are not too many restrictions on the type of firearm you may purchase, and if you are purchasing from a licensed dealer (FFL) in most cases your firearm will be in compliance with state law. Fully-automatic weapons are subject to a different process - but the cost of such weapons is usually prohibitive for the average person.

Rifles and handguns can be carried "openly" or NOT concealed without "permit" (which we refer to by its legal name, LTCF or Pennsylvania License to Carry Firearms") BUT, you must consider that in most places this will raise alarm from the general public, and in many cases illegal harassment from police. Additionally you may not carry without license during state or municipal state of emergency (which happens more often than you would imagine) so to be safe its best to obtain a LTCF. Many activists chose to carry openly, but for the busy man or woman who doesn't have time for harassment, concealed handgun is the way to go. To conceal a handgun, you MUST obtain a LTCF. This is obtained from your county sheriff (need one for you and wife) and you can find more information on your county sheriff's website or office. As a non-US citizen, you may be required to bring proof of residence in PA such as a few months of utility bills at your current address. You may want to put some in your name and some in your wife's so you can meet this requirement.

As far as silencers and automatic weapons, there is a different process that you must go through that involves the federal government, as well as obtaining tax stamps, and waiting for quite a long time. I will let someone more experienced in this chime in.

[mythaeus]

For all of these, you essentially just need to fill out the respective forms that US citizens have to fill out, but with a few additional/different fields. Each form, if needed to differentiate green card holders from US citizen will have the respective field(s) asking for that information. For example, form 4437 (purchasing/transfer form) asks for your alien registration number in question #15: http://www.atf.gov/files/forms/downl...f-f-4473-1.pdf

Instructions for differences in proofs (such as proofs of residency), if required, may vary. For example, Philly requires additional info in section 3.g. of the instructions for proof of residency: http://www.phillypolice.com/assets/d...pplication.pdf . I'm not sure what other counties do, so you need to read the instructions on each form.

The bottom line is that, as a resident with a green card, your rights are identical to that of US citizens. It's just a matter of proving and identifying yourself through the same required forms.

Al
PS: my wife was once a green card holder and we went through all the processes you asked about, except #4 (living in Philly, it's a waste of time to try even if you're a citizen).

[Tootie]

Hope these links help.

non-immigrant

http://www.atf.gov/files/firearms/fa...t-aliens-2.pdf

Federal firearm questions

http://www.atf.gov/content/Firearms/...y/FAQ-firearms

PA firearm laws

http://amgoa.org/Pennsylvania-Gun-Laws

[mmi]

it might go smoother in a regular gun shop than a walmart .
i think you need alien #
i would plan to wait a couple hours for the i check .

[Doomtrooper]

Welcome to Pennsylvania and the forum. I'm shure many members here can steer you in the right direction. It never hurts to ask.

[B.A.]

In all honesty a reputable gun store should be able to
Guide you through the paper work. It's not difficult here in the free state of Pennsylvania. As long as you don't have any thing on your record it should be smooth sailing.

Welcome to the forum. Remember to help support the gun culture here in PA or we may end up with gun laws like in Europe. Attend rallies, write law makers, and buy firearms often.

[rocafella1978]

hi everyone! thank you all for your prompt, helpful and guiding replies! really appreciate it, I am a huge gun supporter! many many wonderful memories and great experience overseas (AFG and etc), from brothers in arms!
again many thanks.

NOW, here is the other question i have:

what would one require to submit/ forms/ documentations to be able to get approved/ to be able to purchase/ own: SBR (short barrel rifle)?

thanks all and god bless you all!

PS: stay warm with all the snow!

[mmi]

those along with suppressors are class 3 . i think you have to be a citizen to apply for a tax stamp for them .

[corey4]

what would one require to submit/ forms/ documentations to be able to get approved/ to be able to purchase/ own: SBR (short barrel rifle)?

my kinda guy! jumping right to the fun stuff!

go here ----> http://forum.pafoa.org/nfa-class-3-title-ii-34/ and read around

as far as NFA (national firearms act of 1934; machine guns/full auto, suppressors, SBR, SBS {short barreled shotgun}, AOW {any other weapon} ) paper work isn't much different. you can file a form 4 (this is your $200 tax stamp) as an individual, or on a NFA trust. being a foreigner, i'm not sure how this will work. be fore warned though, it might take up to a year to get your new NFA toy after you plunk down $1000.

NFA is a whole nuther animal. some one else will chime in and cover anything i missed.

form 1: let's you make a NFA item
form 3: transfer from dealer to dealer so you can submit your form 4
form 4: dealer transfers the item to you

ownership:
individual: the item belongs to you, and you only. if you leave the house, wifey cannot have access to it. you are aloud to have your friends play with your cool new toy while you are there, close buy.
trust: basically a piece of paper owns the item. you can have many users on a trust, as long as they are lawfully aloud to posses a firearm. you can will it to your kids when you pass away. you can go to hunting camp, take some toys with you, and still be able to have wifey be at home with a suppressed home protection firearm. the trust option IS changing. we are not sure how much of it is going to change, but it IS going to change.

NFA can be kinda daunting to a FNG (f*cking new guy ). read posts on different forums, sift thru the BS, do research and you will be good to go.