inherited handgun question

[mojojamie]

I just came home from my father's funeral in upstate New York. I inherited a 10mm Delta Elite from my dad, although there is really no paperwork involved in the inheritance of this gun. He just let us kids pick which we wanted. I do have a license to carry in PA, but My question is whether or not I need to register this gun, seeing as it was inherited, albeit from NY, and no sale was involved. Thank in advance for your help with this question =)

[Legion_Prime]

Well as far as registration goes, firearm registration is illegal in the state of Pennsylvania. So that should answer that question. Anything else related to the transfer from the OOS estate is out of my lane.

[1713]

This may have more to do with NY laws than with PA laws. Does NY allow father-to-son like PA does? Kinda doubt it.

ETA: I'm making an assumption that your father was a NY resident because of the location of the funeral.

[mauser]

First of all, technically there is no firearm registration in PA.

§ 6111.4. Registration of firearms.
Notwithstanding any section of this chapter to the contrary,
nothing in this chapter shall be construed to allow any
government or law enforcement agency or any agent thereof to
create, maintain or operate any registry of firearm ownership
within this Commonwealth. For the purposes of this section only,
the term "firearm" shall include any weapon that is designed to
or may readily be converted to expel any projectile by the
action of an explosive or the frame or receiver of any such
weapon.

The best solution is to have the ownership of the gun legally transferred to you at a licensed FFL, it'll cost about $20.00 - $30.00. (I know, this sure sounds like registration). The executor of the will would be the one to handle the transfer of ownership to you.
If it's registered to his name in New York it wasn't yours and you need to take the proper steps to get it unregistered in New York and take legal possession in PA.
Don't take the gun home with you until the legal paperwork has been done. It's only a few $$ and well worth it.
If It's more complicated than I'm seeing it to be you can probably get a free consultation with a lawyer (or two) to confirm or discredit any assumptions or ambiguities.
Consider the value of the gun, monetary as well as sentimental, you may want to actually pay a lawyer to get good verifiable advice.
I've paid as little as $35.00 to have law firms evaluate, type and send things to cover my ass in simple but questionable situations.

[mojojamie]

Thank you so much for your quick response! I just wanted to make sure we do everything by the book so that we don't run into any snags. I will have my stepmom take the proper steps to transfer ownership of it into my name then before we proceed into the physical transfer of the gun. As far as PA goes, no problems there, so that's good =)

[tl_3237]

I just came home from my father's funeral in upstate New York. I inherited a 10mm Delta Elite from my dad, although there is really no paperwork involved in the inheritance of this gun. He just let us kids pick which we wanted. I do have a license to carry in PA, but My question is whether or not I need to register this gun, seeing as it was inherited, albeit from NY, and no sale was involved. Thank in advance for your help with this question =)

If you truly inherited the gun then you should be receiving it from the executor of the estate when the estate distributions are made. The executor should maintain a copy of that distribution and you also should get some paperwork from him/her but the paperwork is more akin to the normal records that an estate distribution entail regarding the executor's fiduciary's duty to maintain an accounting and has nothing to do with gun registration per se.

From a cursory reading of NY's procedure the executor could either use a NY FFL to ship to your Pa FFL OR file the necessary forms with the pistol licensing agency that issued your father's license. (http://ocgov.net/oneida/sites/defaul...rOwnership.pdf)
I cannot speak for NY laws but that is an issue that the executor would address before the distribution. As far as the physical transfer, you can have the executor ship the handgun directly to you or a Pa FFL unless NY law provides otherwise.

Federal (18 USC 922(a)(3)(A) and (5)(A)) and Pa (18 PA CSA 6115(b)(2)) laws allow for your receipt of the handgun without the use of an FFL and any subsequent 'registration'.

[PAS&W]

I just came home from my father's funeral in upstate New York. I inherited a 10mm Delta Elite from my dad, although there is really no paperwork involved in the inheritance of this gun. He just let us kids pick which we wanted. I do have a license to carry in PA, but My question is whether or not I need to register this gun, seeing as it was inherited, albeit from NY, and no sale was involved. Thank in advance for your help with this question =)

First - I am not suggesting any wrongdoing on your part.

If you are a PA resident with an LTCF you obviously need not worry about
possessing the pistol in PA.

I do however suggest that you NEVER take it out of PA for any reason
I also suggest that you forget about where it came from.

Condolences for your Dad - - and enjoy a fine inheritance.

[Xringshooter]

I do however suggest that you NEVER take it out of PA for any reason
I also suggest that you forget about where it came from.

WHY? What's with the paranoia?

If it is an inheritance, the gun is legally his and he can do with it just like any other gun he has bought. If your reasoning is because it is coming from NY, remember there are 2 NY's when dealing with guns. NYC and the rest of the state. Handguns are not illegal to own in NY State, you just have to do the correct steps to own it. I had a client (US Army Major) that was moving from PA (Master Grad from PSU) to the 10th Mountain. I had to hold his personal Beretta until he got settled and got the proper paperwork completed. Once that was done, I shipped it to his local FFL. Not a big deal.

[mauser]

First - I am not suggesting any wrongdoing on your part.

If you are a PA resident with an LTCF you obviously need not worry about
possessing the pistol in PA.

I do however suggest that you NEVER take it out of PA for any reason
I also suggest that you forget about where it came from.
Condolences for your Dad - - and enjoy a fine inheritance.

Once the proper steps are taken and paperwork has been completed there's no reason to be secretive about anything to do with the pistol or where it came from. As a matter of fact I recommend that you hold it near and dear to your heart and always remember where it came from.

On another note, if it's used as a daily carry piece and used in a self defense situation there's a better than good chance that it could be held as evidence and who knows how it may be stored or cared for or for how long.
That being said I wouldn't use it as a primary self defense gun just because of the sentimental value that it may have.

[abner13]

Although , as others have pointed out , there is not SUPPOSED to be any registration of firearms in PA , the PA State Police have long maintained a so-called 'record of sale database' for all handguns transfered within the Commonwealth.

If you are ever stopped for whatever reason while the gun is in your posession , and the cops 'run the numbers' , it will not come up in the PA database , and could very well get confiscated till ownership is proven to their satisfaction. Even though they fully acknowledge the database in incomplete.

Not supposed to happen , but it does. And who do ya call when the police violate the law?