Inheriting Out of State Firearms

[coastalkeith]

Hello Everyone,
I have, what I feel to be a rather simple question, but due to my inexperience in gun laws am looking for some help. I am Active Duty Coast Guard, and a resident of California. My grandfather passed away and I inherited all of his firearms. This was a verbal agreement among family so I know that i need to get some sort of paper trail. Since I am currently in Oregon, do I need to register these guns somehow? I know they were all bought from a store, and are clean. Unfortunately, all the receipts and what not for the guns was thrown away during the clean out of his room. Any Ideas of what action needs to be taken if any? Thank you for the help and I welcome any constructive criticism!

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[rick benjamin]

Keith
Thanks for your service.

Go to Cali.
After ensuring guns are unloaded, put guns in a cardboard box
Put box in car trunk. Leave Cali immediately.
Return to Astoria.
Live on base? Declare your personally owned firearms to the Station Chief Master at Arms.

 

[rick benjamin]

Do it sooner than later.
Some new Cali laws to kick-in after new-years.
Maintain zipped lips. Some guns that were legal before, aren't legal after.

 

[The Heretic]

First - federal law.

Inherited firearms can be transferred to another person in another state.

https://www.atf.gov/resource-center/docs/0813-firearms-top-12-qaspdf/download

Search for "bequest" ^^

Second, Oregon state law.

Transfers to immediate family (grandchildren included) are exempt from the background check FFL transfer requirement. The law on transfers is the only law that applies here - there is no official registration system.

ORS 166.435 - Firearm transfers by unlicensed persons - 2015 Oregon Revised Statutes

I cannot and will not speak on Calif. law. If you leave the firearms in Oregon or other "free" state, then Calif. law is irrelevant, and I would recommend you find a way to do that. It depends on what types of firearms we are talking about - the Calif. laws that go into effect in 2017 may not apply to the firearms you have inherited.

 

[Mark W.]

I agree go to CA kiss your family and pack your trunk. Drive to Astoria If you live on base do as required by your command. If you live off base look into a suitable gun safe and give them a good cleaning and oiling. Enjoy the memory of your grandfather and the firearms he wanted you to have.

 

[Nitro 54]

IMO what the state and feds don't know is better.

 

[Koda]

Hello Everyone,
I have, what I feel to be a rather simple question, but due to my inexperience in gun laws am looking for some help. I am Active Duty Coast Guard, and a resident of California. My grandfather passed away and I inherited all of his firearms. This was a verbal agreement among family so I know that i need to get some sort of paper trail. Since I am currently in Oregon, do I need to register these guns somehow? I know they were all bought from a store, and are clean. Unfortunately, all the receipts and what not for the guns was thrown away during the clean out of his room. Any Ideas of what action needs to be taken if any? Thank you for the help and I welcome any constructive criticism!

I'm not clear which state you are a resident. You mentioned your currently in Oregon, but a resident of California. In Oregon, resident or not, you don't need to register your guns just bring them here.

 

[mjbskwim]

I can't respond cause I get in trouble when I tell folks to get the guns and STFU about it
But I would never tell someone to do that.

 

[wired]

Its a little more complicated than that. You did not receive the guns through a will or by bequest. Your grandfather left the guns to a 3rd party along with everything else when he died. That third party then gave you the guns.

I get sh!t over this stuff every time . I know. Everyone wants you to put them in the back of your truck and drive them home. You are asking what the law says. By the letter of the law you would need the executor of the estate to transfer them through an Oregon FFL since you were not named as a beneficiary in the will. If you had been a named beneficiary it would be a different issue entirely but just throwing them in the back of the truck and driving them back to Oregon or whatever state you are a resident of would be a federal felony. I always figure its nice to know when you are breaking the law so maybe you can be discreet about it. As far as the feds are concerned you are NOT a resident of California as far as the '68 GCA is concerned unless you are stationed there and reside there as in actually reside there. Its a common misconception that you remain a resident of your home of record state and guys go down to buy guns all the time and no one ever says anything like "hey , whats this box on the 4473 for ? " . You are a resident of the state you are stationed in and it doesnt matter if you have a California drivers license and you plan on returning when you get out . It gets real bad when you are stationed overseas. You have no US State residency and cannot LEGALLY buy a gun when you go home on leave and yet still...everyone does it..

BTW the good news is you arent in California and you arent a resident of Califonia. You can buy off list guns and bring them back to California when you get out.

 

[P7M13]

Dum dee dum de dum de dum. Are you back yet?

[edit] I must say, I'm grateful for those on the board here who are much more knowledgeable of gun laws than I will ever be. I have avoided some egregious, felonious behavior because of said wisdom. I cannot say I agree with it either, but as a teen, I learned the hard way, ignorance of the law is no excuse.....

 

[The Heretic]

I am confused about the residency.

It has been three decades since I was in the military, but my understanding was that you continue to be a resident of the state you had residency in when you enlisted - unless you explicitly change that residency. I recall that this was true for taxes.

I could be totally wrong on this for a number of reasons, including not understanding/knowing, and/or things could have changed since then.

Just saying...

 

[The Heretic]

As for the inheriting. I inherited a lot of things from my parents estate via the executor (my brother), including a chunk of change. As far as the IRS is concerned, I inherited it from the estate - the executor was just carrying out my parent's wishes.

 

[wired]

You do not continue to be a resident of your state of record for firearms purchase purposes. Its part of the '68 GCA and its one of the most misunderstood provisions of the law. For the purposes of the '68 GCA you are a resident of the state you actually physically reside in . Where it gets really sticky is for people who are stationed overseas . They have no state of residency and by the letter of the law are not allowed to purchase firearms in the US when back on leave or TDY etc.

Taxes and such are a completely different topic but firearms are in their own little world as far as residency requirements go.

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/olc/opinions/2012/01/31/ATF90dayruleFINAL1-30-12_0.pdf

 

[The Heretic]

You do not continue to be a resident of your state of record for firearms purchase purposes. Its part of the '68 GCA and its one of the most misunderstood provisions of the law. For the purposes of the '68 GCA you are a resident of the state you actually physically reside in .

I don't think it is that simple with the military. A lot of military people maintain their out of state driver's licenses and car plates/tags and the states have to respect that. Also, I knew more than one military member who filed their out of state taxes - not for the state they were stationed in, and voted absentee ballots too.

Page 3, about half way down states that it isn't that simple - that you can be a resident of both your duty station and your "home" state:

https://www.atf.gov/file/83651/download

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

Thanks for your service!

Congratulations on the inheritance.

If you are assigned in Oregon, but remain a CA resident (for income tax purposes only ), I'll echo two options above.

If you live on base, follow base orders (which are lightening up, so I've heard); and secure them in the arm's room (not a bad option).

If you live off base, get a good gun safe (like Liberty in Hubbard, OR) and fill it full! That's it, no paperwork for direct family x-fers, no registration, no nothing, but holding them near and dear to your heart until you pass them down.

If you've had half of your brains removed and want to go back to CA, kick yourself in the back-side; you probably have to take the firearms to a "gun jail" (dealer), fill out transfer docs, pay, and wait 10 or 14 days while they decide if you can have them or not. FAIL!

Not paying state income tax while you serve abroad is the reason to maintain CA residency....

 

[wired]

The states might respect that for car titles, registration etc but the federal government doesnt as far as the GCA goes. Yes, you can maintain residency in your state of record, or any other state, if you have property there and maintain a residence there. Most people in the military live where their duty station is and do not have a residence in their name in their home of record. For most military members their orders contain their home of residency and that is what the ATF has consistently ruled to be their home of residency for firearms purchases. The other exception being for areas like Fort Benning which is on the Alabama border where the service member might live in Alabama but be stationed in Georgia. He would be residents of both states for GCA purposes.

Heres an example from Virginia . The second paragraph is a good paraphrase of the Federal residency requirements...

http://www.quantico.usmc-mccs.org/s.../00-PDFs/09-MCX/231RETAILGunPurchaseSigns.pdf

Heres a real long winded explanation of residency...

http://www.handgunlaw.us/documents/MilPerHomeOfRecord.pdf

 

[P7M13]

Uhhh. My head hurts. How'd we wander into this swamp? I think we need to return to some other wisdom....

 

[Mikej]

Uhhh. My head hurts. How'd we wander into this swamp? I think we need to return to some other wisdom....

Especially since the original poster hasn't been on since the day they started the thread.

 

[wired]

Especially since the original poster hasn't been on since the day they started the thread.

People do drive by's all the time, find out stuff they don't want to know, move on and ignore it. Doesnt mean we cant discuss the concept.

 

[The Heretic]

Yes - this is applicable and interesting enough that it merits conversation.

Many people in the military (when I was in, it was 50+%) are in for their first enlistment and are generally pretty young (most of them I knew were 18 to 22) and many of them used their parent's residence as their residence - I did (although I was in my mid 20s and married - it was just easier that way).

So I guess the devil is in the details.

It is good to know the law so whether you choose to follow or ignore it, you know what the law is and the possible issues.