A Dead Man's Gun

[luked00m]

I'll keep it short and sweet.

Friend of mine has an old Ruger Single Six. It was his father's, who passed many years ago. We can only assume that the firearm was registered to his father. Gun dates to '71.

He'd like to give me the gun but I'm not really sure what to do here. I'm certainly not going to take it without transferring it. Since it's presumably registered to a long dead man how would you proceed?

My apologies if I could've picked a better forum, it's been a few years since I've posted.

[Delkal]

Your friend can legally have his fathers firearm. You can not without a transfer. I assume he got the pistol thru the estate so he can transfer it to you thru an FFL.

[luked00m]

That would be nice and easy. Trouble is, he swears that there was no transfer or anything of the sort when his father passed. I wanna say around 25 years ago.

He claims it was more of a "He's gone so I guess it's mine now" sort of thing. That's why I'm not sure how to handle it.

[Delkal]

Your friend did not need a transfer from father to son. You can gift a handgun between parents and children and it is totally legal for him to have it.

If he got the firearm thru the estate or a family decision after his father died then he is the lawful owner and can transfer it to you.

[Bang]

Unless he has some reason he cannot possess a gun, just go to an FFL with him and transfer it from him to you.

[bortle]

Unless he has some reason he cannot possess a gun, just go to an FFL with him and transfer it from him to you.

Do this and then buy him lunch.

[Marcus99]

+1 to what others have said. All you have to do it take your buddy and the gun to a local gun shop for a transfer. Make sure you both have valid ID with your correct address on it(or a change of address card). He fills out the seller portion of paperwork, you fill out the buyer portion. DONE

If your friend is giving you a hard time just tell him the simple fact, which others have stated: He didn't need to do a transfer before because it was father to son, but for friends or mostly anyone else you have to do a transfer.

If the gun is that old it probably isn't even "registered" to the father.

[Gunsnwater]

Thread title sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators.

[Mitch10mm]

Actually an old tv show

[luked00m]

Thanks for the helpful replies, fellas.

Looks like we'll just head to the shop and do the usual transfer. His main concern was that he's not 100% sure how his dad acquired the gun and can't be sure that it was indeed in his name. Seeing as the gun isn't reported as stolen, we're going to assume Papa was a law abiding citizen. Haha.