Question regarding PICS and gunsmith

**firemanmark** · May 8th, 2012, 09:15 PM

I recently dropped a rifle off at an out of town gunsmith who was highly recommended to me to have an aftermarket stock put on one of my rifles. My question is will I need a PICS check to get my rifle back? The reason I ask is because the next time I will be in that area is the 2 days that PICS will be down for the maintenance later this month(great luck huh?), and its about a 2.5-3hr drive one way if I was to make a special trip and money is tight for the gas for that trip.

**JayBell** · May 8th, 2012, 10:00 PM

PICS is not required for picking up a firearm from repair by a gunsmith, you are good to go.

**firemanmark** · May 8th, 2012, 10:14 PM

Thanks Jay, I saw another post on here tonite where it was mentioned that PICS was required, I know I didnt fill the 4473 in the past when picking up from a smith but thought maybe something had changed. No worries if I would have to, but then i realized that oh crap the dates I'm gonna be out that way is when PICS is gonna be down. Glad I'm good, cause I really wanna put some rounds down the tube of that rifle.

**Sir Knight** · May 8th, 2012, 10:22 PM

Unless they can't fix the gun and give you a replacement with a different serial number.

**c45man** · May 8th, 2012, 10:38 PM

You can pick up the gun from a smith without pics. On the other hand, it is my understanding that if one places a handgun on consignment at a gun store and the firearm's owner changes his mind and wishes to take the gun from the gunstore, the owner must submit to a PICS check. I do recall that being told to me by a store owner that took in consignment handguns. If my assumption is correct, there is a real inconsistancy in the law. Both the smith and the retailer attempting to sell somebody elses gun must place the firearm in his book of inventory, but the pics check for the gun owner retriving his or her gun is only required in one of the categories?

**JayBell** · May 9th, 2012, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by c45man

You can pick up the gun from a smith without pics. On the other hand, it is my understanding that if one places a handgun on consignment at a gun store and the firearm's owner changes his mind and wishes to take the gun from the gunstore, the owner must submit to a PICS check. I do recall that being told to me by a store owner that took in consignment handguns. If my assumption is correct, there is a real inconsistancy in the law. Both the smith and the retailer attempting to sell somebody elses gun must place the firearm in his book of inventory, but the pics check for the gun owner retriving his or her gun is only required in one of the categories?

the log into a gunsmiths book constitues a transfer for work being done, and is not considered a change of actual ownership

consigning a gun is a change of ownership, to the FFLs stock so that he can sell the gun for you, thus, if you want it back, you have to go thru PICs to ensure in the time that you did not own the gun that you did not become prohibited.

**c45man** · May 9th, 2012, 09:56 PM

Originally Posted by JayBell

the log into a gunsmiths book constitues a transfer for work being done, and is not considered a change of actual ownership

consigning a gun is a change of ownership, to the FFLs stock so that he can sell the gun for you, thus, if you want it back, you have to go thru PICs to ensure in the time that you did not own the gun that you did not become prohibited.

Understood and well articulated. I go back many years to a time when gun owners wishing to consign with a retailer would take their guns in and out of such status by simply taking his handgun out of the store. I don't know if the ATF got creative in their interpretaion of the '68 GCA, or the ATF start getting after the stores for this practice, which in fact, went on for many years. When a owner of the gun would take his firearm off of consignment, the ffl holder would simply make a note in his inventory book that the gun was returned to its owner, the identity of whom was so noted in the book. I had first hand experience in doing what I just described.
Quite frankly, when a gun store owner advised me of the policy that you eluded to in your post, I was surprised.
By the way, considering the long turn around time for gunsmith work, a customer wishing to have his or her gun repaired could get into a whole bunch of trouble including PFAs, involuntary trips to the local mental institution, and being placed under arrest for disqualifying crimes. Again, I fail to see the difference between the statuses.