Gift of a pistol

[lscroggs]

I live in Texas and have a son in New Mexico. If I want to give one of my pistols to my son is there any paperwork I need to complete? We visit back and forth so I could give him the pistol in Texas when he visits or drive to his home and give it to him there. We are both legal to own pistols. He is in law enforcement and I have had a Texas CHL for over a decade. Thanks.

Larry

 

[Phillip Gain]

Between the two of you - one of you should already know the answer to this.

It is a violation of Federal law to transfer a pistol directly, between residents of two different states. The gun has to be transferred via an FFL holder in the recipient's state.

 

[Purple]

If you want to do the undeniable, defendable and legal course...find an FFL to ship the gun too for a transfer to your son. There are some federal provisions for estates and antiques, but I would recommend contacting an attorney about that.

There are no federal laws the prohibit a person who can legally own a firearm from crossing state lines with that firearm. There are state laws that govern interstate transportation of firearms and you would need to adhere to those laws while traveling in New Mexico with the gun to give to your son. Not sure if this helps or creates more confusion. Here's a brief synopsis of New Mexico Gun laws. Gun laws in the United States (by state) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Almost_Blameless]

I live in Texas and have a son in New Mexico. If I want to give one of my pistols to my son is there any paperwork I need to complete? We visit back and forth so I could give him the pistol in Texas when he visits or drive to his home and give it to him there. We are both legal to own pistols. He is in law enforcement and I have had a Texas CHL for over a decade. Thanks.

Larry

My son is in Colorado, I in Indiana...we each have gun dealers we deal with regularly...I turned my gun over to my Indiana ffl and he sends it to my son;s Colorado ffl and the gun gets legally transferred....in the past, i paid a 12 dollar shipping and a 10 dollar handling fee, my son paid 12 dollar receiving and registration fee....easy doings and not too painful ...and everything is insured

Good luck with you transfer and happy shootin

 

[busykngt]

Not sure it's that cut & dried...

Perhaps this will make it clear - taken from the Wikipedia article entitled, "Gun law in the United States":

"Federal law allows the sale of a long gun or a handgun between private parties of the same state as long as the purchaser is 18 years of age or older. An individual who does not possess a federal firearms license may not sell a modern firearm to a resident of another state without first transferring the firearm to a dealer in the purchaser's state.[8] Firearms received by bequest or intestate succession are exempt from those sections of the law which forbid the transfer, sale, delivery or transportation of firearms into a state other than the transferor's state of residence.[8]"

Here's a link to the actual law which appears to allow for what you want to do - see Title 18, Chapter 44, Sect 922 (a) (3):
http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/44/922
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Appears to me (but I'm not lawyer), if you're "bequeathing" the handgun to your son, you can do it without breaking any federal laws. But as has been pointed out, using FFLs may be the best course of action anyway.