Gift? of Rifle and Pistol

**Erinpiper** · January 27th, 2013, 10:55 AM

My cousin, who lives in Maryland, fell very ill and was transferred in to hospice care recently. She requested that I take a rifle and a pistol that she owned because she would never be able to use them again.
Is there any kind of protocol I need to follow to get these guns back to PA?
At this point she is unable to speak or write and I am concerned about taking these guns and breaking some kind of law. Has anybody run in to this kind of scenario before?
Thanks for any help.

**BimmerJon** · January 27th, 2013, 11:06 AM

They have to be transferred through an FFL in either state (long gun) or the buyers state (firearms)
Before you take possession

**Erinpiper** · January 29th, 2013, 08:12 PM

Just so I understand correctly, I can register both guns through an FFL in Pennsylvania before I go to Maryland and pick them up and all will be on the up and up?

**Emptymag** · January 29th, 2013, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by Erinpiper

Just so I understand correctly, I can register both guns through an FFL in Pennsylvania before I go to Maryland and pick them up and all will be on the up and up?

Not that I'm aware of.

I hesitate to attempt to give you further info though, as I don't like to comment unless I'm sure of something.

**BimmerJon** · January 29th, 2013, 08:27 PM

Originally Posted by Erinpiper

Just so I understand correctly, I can register both guns through an FFL in Pennsylvania before I go to Maryland and pick them up and all will be on the up and up?

You're not registering anything, you're transferring them.
You can't take physical possession of them until transferred through an FFL.

For handguns it has to be an FFL in the state the buyer lives.
Long guns... Buyers or sellers state

**Xringshooter** · January 29th, 2013, 09:00 PM

If she cannot speak or write, she probably has someone that she has given power of attorney to to handle her affairs while she is incapacitated. This person could, depending on how the POA is written, do the transfer (physically take the guns to a FFL in PA to have them transferred to you, or ship them to your FFL so the transfer could be done, or take them to a FFL in MD to have that FFL ship them to your FFL in PA). All of that is contingent on the POA believing your story that she wants the guns to go to you. If they don't believe it, they won't do the transfer and how are you going to prove she said this to you?

Just had a thought, is she able to move her hands enough to, even one fingered, type a message on a computer (a statement in a Word document, etc.), with the POA there to see that she is doing it, not you, showing her permission to give you the guns?