Best way to give a handgun as a gift?

[Skeptic10787]

I have never bought a gun for anybody, let alone a handgun. What's the best way to go about it legally? I'm assuming it isn't legal to just buy it and hand it over to my relative. So would it be best to buy it, give it to him, then transfer it through an FFL... or should I just pay for it, and let him do the transfer and backround check through the shop, without myself taking responsibility for the weapon at all.

[Luckyducker]

You'd be best to run this by the dealer and get his input on this subject.  There is a box  on the transfer form where the buyer is asked if they're buying this firearm for another person.  I don't think anyone on this forum is going to risk giving legal advise. 

[Graybeard]

I make no claim to know the legal technicalities of it but any BATFE office should be able to advise. I'd think what state you're in would make some difference in procedure as well. If the two of you are not in the same state that further complicates matters.

My guess would be the safest way would be to just figure out how much it is gonna cost and then let him have that much money and let him handle the entire transaction.

[coyotejoe]

As I understand federal law, you may give a gun as a gift so long as there is no intent to circumvent the law. If you were to buy the gun and then let the other person repay you, that would be considered a deliberate attempt to circumvent. So long as it is purely a gift, with no repayment, there should be no problem with the BATF. It would be totally safe to take your relative to the shop, let them make the purchase and you just pay for it, then you're only making a gift of money, but that can also raise suspicions. Lets say a husband and wife come into my shop. The husband picked out a gun, the wife filled out the forms and the husband paid for it. Now the way it was done made me suspect the husband may have just wanted the gun in his wife's name to circumvent the law but as a dealer, there really was nothing I could do about it. That is a problem for me as an FFL holder. If the gun should ever turn up in a crime the cops are going to say "you should have known it was a Straw Man purchase. Well maybe I should have known but there is no way I could have known. Catch 22? The law is full of them and that doesn't even take into account state and municipal laws. But under federal law, you can give a gun as a gift with no need for the recipient to undergo the background check.

[jsoukup]

Gift cards?

[BillP]

Under federal and most state laws it's not legal to give a gun to someone who is prohibited from having it by law.  That includes any age requirement.  Giving a long gun to a minor in the presence of their parents is generally thought to be OK because the parent has a duty to the child to retain posession of the firearm and insure that any use by the child complies with the law.  Of course the parent must not be prohibited.  It gets more complicated with a handgun because the child becomes an adult at 18 but must be 21 to own the gun.

As I understand the federal law, it's OK to buy a handgun and give it to an adult as a gift if the person you give the gun to is not prohibited from possessing it in any way and there is no intent to circumvent the intention of the law.  The intent thing should not be a problem if it is really a gift.  If, however you were to buy someone a gun specifically because he doesn't want to be documented as the owner, that could be illegal.