Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
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  1. #1
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    Default Gifting Handgun to person under 21

    Hello all, sorry if this has been rung up the flag pole multiple times but...I know federal law allows gifting or selling a handgun to a person under 21 if you are not an FFL but since all private handgun transfers in PA must go thru a FFL, does that make it illegal to sell of gift a handgun to a person under 21? Thanks in advance

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Gifting Handgun to person under 21

    You can only transfer a handgun to anyone who is your spouse, parent, child, grandparent, or grandchild without a sheriff or FFL. Every other transfer of a handgun, that I know of, needs a sheriff or FFL.

    http://reference.pafoa.org/statutes/...r-of-firearms/

    ETA~ AFAIK sheriff's can transfer to under 21, but you would have to find one to do so.

    "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty
    than to those attending too small a degree of it."~Thomas Jefferson, 1791
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  3. #3
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    Default Re: Gifting Handgun to person under 21

    Quote Originally Posted by headcase View Post
    You can only transfer a handgun to anyone who is your spouse, parent, child, grandparent, or grandchild without a sheriff or FFL. Every other transfer of a handgun, that I know of, needs a sheriff or FFL.

    ETA~ AFAIK sheriff's can transfer to under 21, but you would have to find one to do so.
    If you don't fit into one of these categories, you could transfer the gun to someone who does (e.g., a parent or grandparent) who could then give the gun to his/her child without involvement of an FFL. I wouldn't see that as a "straw purchase."

    The possibility of a sheriff transferring the gun exists and has been discussed here many times, but I don't recall an instance where a sheriff was actually willing to handle a transfer.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Gifting Handgun to person under 21

    Quote Originally Posted by Cbronwen16 View Post
    Hello all, sorry if this has been rung up the flag pole multiple times but...I know federal law allows gifting or selling a handgun to a person under 21 if you are not an FFL but since all private handgun transfers in PA must go thru a FFL, does that make it illegal to sell of gift a handgun to a person under 21? Thanks in advance
    The gifting is not a problem but selling is no good, you'd be asking for trouble. And like the others said, it can only be a parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, or spouse of the gift giver. And they must be at least 18.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Gifting Handgun to person under 21

    A person 18 years of age in PA can legally purchase a handgun in a private transaction, just not through an FFL as they must run it through PICS. At 18 years of age it is legal to own, possess and openly carry a handgun in Pennsylvania. However, as mentioned previously, you would have to find a Sheriff willing to transfer a handgun to a person under 21 years of age.
    Last edited by sprrdhawk44; January 16th, 2011 at 04:24 AM.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Gifting Handgun to person under 21

    Quote Originally Posted by donm View Post
    If you don't fit into one of these categories, you could transfer the gun to someone who does (e.g., a parent or grandparent) who could then give the gun to his/her child without involvement of an FFL. I wouldn't see that as a "straw purchase."
    . . .
    I think that could be prosecuted as a conspiracy.

    There are plenty of instances of people who structured a transaction so that each piece was legal, but the aggregate was held to be unlawful.. Ask Tom Delay about that, if you can catch him before his prison term begins.

    There was a dealer who bought some imported "police/military only" rifles through a National Guard unit (legal), then the NG guys re-sold them to civilians (legal). Since the scheme was to sell restricted-import guns to civilians, the dealer was convicted, despite each step in his plan being legal.

    It's a bit like doing a bunch of cash transactions that are each below the reporting limit; the IRS will go after you for the totality, not the parts of the scheme.

    I would not transfer a gun to my cousin by running it through my grandpa and then back down to the cousin. Not worth the risk.

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