Problem is that the son was a resident of North Carolina when he tried to purchase the rifle:
If he lied about his current address on the form 4473 so that it matched his driver's license that would have been a Federal felony.
Ok, if you're saying that presence in NC makes him a resident - that's not the case. It's never been the case. He's there on active duty orders. In NC, if you do not claim NC as your state of residence for taxation purposes, do not register to vote in NC, and do not have an NCDL, and you are on AD orders, you are not necessarily a resident of that state just because they dropped you there. You can buy a house there and be on AD and you are STILL not necessarily a resident of NC.
I know this because when I went back on active duty several years ago, I left from NC. I spent about 85% of my life in that state. I own real property there (and Texas!), and I pay income tax on the rental income in NC because it's income earned in NC on real property and because the law there says I have to, but I am NOT an NC resident. Even if I were to be stationed in NC again, I would not be a resident - I am now (like most of the rest of the USAF - LOL) a Texas resident. Believe me, I checked this very carefully with JAG, because I could legally be a resident of either NC or TX with very little effort (and of course now I could claim SC residency with a flick of the computer mouse and a change to my W4, and since it looks like we'll buy a house here as well - there's another one). I can tag my cars in either state, keep a DL in either state (you can't have a three way split between insurance, license, and registration - you need two of the three in one state)....residency is and can be tricky when you own real property in multiple locations and you're essentially without a permanent home and can literally and legally change domicile on a whim should you so choose. And "intent to return" can be up for debate - both on the part of the state and on the part of the member. Some states try to claim your home of record is your legal domicile - and it's not. All your HOR does is shows where you entered the military OR where the military will pay to send you back to when you retire (if I retire and am stationed in VA, the military will only pay to move me as far as my HOR - anything over that I'm responsible for). But it doesn't show intent to return, even as states try to say it does. It doesn't. Essentially, it's meaningless. (Mine is PA, which is what it was when I was enlisted....I am deliberately - and very legally - ambivalent on domicile. Perfectly legal in my position. As I said, I checked with JAG and I'm totally fine.) You can give your HOR as whatever you want when you enlist (as I did - I enlisted in Raleigh, NC in 1995 but my HOR is and has always been PA!), and enlisteds can actually change it at any time. It's just an address. Even the DOD has started to admit it's an outdated practice because it literally proves nothing, and quite a few people don't retire back to their HOR.
Owning real property, though, is just my situation. This guy is still not legally a resident of NC unless he chooses to be. The Feds put a stop to that whole mess for military members eons ago, back when my late dad was still on active duty in the 1950s! The state can attempt to say he's a legal resident, but they have to prove it. Presence doesn't do it because he's on orders. Owning a home wouldn't do it either. He'd have to show intent of either return or staying. As long as you're on AD orders, you're doing neither. States hate this because the burden of intent is on them.
With that said, all this guy needed was the orders. He didn't need the fishing license and if the gun shop owner said so he was completely wrong. This is why he has to provide a copy of his orders as proof he can get the residency requirement waived. For example, I gave SC a copy of my orders putting me here when I bought my new M9 two weeks ago. My DL is not SC, and I gave my current address as SC. But that did not make me, nor will it ever make me, an SC resident - because I provided a copy of my orders that proved I'm sort of here against my will, if you'll allow that analogy. I don't live here, and in four years when they move me out of here, I'll have another address and another state and another set of orders that show I've been sent somewhere else (with the same DL I have now).
And now spouses aren't even subjected to as much shifting around as they used to be....my husband has kept his TX license and claims his residency there through me, even though we're both in SC. He's on my orders as well.
I'm AD military - have been for 14 years (not consecutively, but still 14) - and I've lived all over the place. I also grew up in NC and have lived there as a civilian. I have had no issues (and have no problems) with handing over a copy of my orders to purchase a weapon (I've bought two guns in TX and one now in SC, all with orders and my NCDL). That's a Federally issued legal document that the Feds already know about anyway. I agree with the stance that if you don't need ID to vote (I find that screwy, in a way - sorry, but I do), then there shouldn't be too much question about buying a weapon - but there are, so the orders aren't a big deal for me. We can't have everything, so I work within what I can have and make the least amount of trouble for myself in the process.
I've always found it interesting, though, that for as military friendly as NC is, they seem to have a serious problem with the military and gun purchases and permits. They always have. And no, it makes no sense whatsoever. They make it as difficult as possible.
Sorry so long - residency issues get on my nerves because it always seems as though the member, when they don't know how it all works (and a lot of people don't), gets the shaft. I've had airmen bullied by car dealers into tagging their cars in a state that they weren't a resident of - it was attempted with me as well. I had to print off the state law for that state's DMV to prove to the finance guy he was wrong (as were his alleged attorneys - not that I believed him in the first place) and that I was under no legal obligation to tag my cars in his state so long as I was there on AD orders. Nice try, though, on his part.
