Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Lying on a federal gun purchase form is not advisable for anybody, legal resident or citizen. Except, of course, for foreign terrorists captured on the battlefield -- then all care and due attention must be paid to their rights. But I digress...

From a technical perspective, you seem to be right. But keep in mind that the ATF likes to use technicalities to prosecute FFLs -- its easier going after innocent mistakes than true criminals. Just ask Mayor Bloomberg, who opposes reforms for the ATF to quit abusing the law abiding and to go after the criminals. But I digress again...

So you are most likely the victim of an FFL being careful. They don't want to break the law, which is easy to do when the law makes no sense. You see, it is easier for legislators to pass new nonsensical laws than to actually read what is before them. And I've digressed one more time.

Anyway, best of luck in your pursuit of securing your natural right to self defense.

How about a cap and ball revolver for the time being?... better than nothing!

Are shotguns covered by the same gun purchase laws? ie, background checks etc?

bzybee08 wrote:Are shotguns covered by the same gun purchase laws? ie, background checks etc?

Yes.
Get a copy of your driving record from the DMV, that should prove 90 days residency.

Moccasin wrote:

bzybee08 wrote:Are shotguns covered by the same gun purchase laws? ie, background checks etc?

Yes.
Get a copy of your driving record from the DMV, that should prove 90 days residency.

Would not make any difference. They were very clear that I needed 3 months of utility bills from the address I am currently living at.. The law says prove 90 days of residency, they are telling me it needs to be 90 days in my current address.

bzybee08 wrote:I went to Pro Bass shop in Ashland today armed with 9 months of utility bills. I was past around until I ended up with the guy would knows this stuff.

Basically told the same thing. I needed 3 months utility bills of the house I am living in. I explained I just moved and have lived in VA for 8 years. Had Drivers License, Alien Card etc.. He said it was a federal requirement.

I said that it appears the fed req is that I prove I have been a resident of the state for 90 days. He said no and I pulled out the fed req that I had printed off. He then said it must be a Pro Bass Shop requirement then.

I have re-read most things and to me, the clear intent is that you prove you have been a resident in the state for 90 days.. because it also states that even if you are legal, if you move to another state, you can not buy a gun for 90 days.

So I really do not know if they have a mis-understanding or they really do have rules above that of the fed government.

I did think again about just using my old address, but as a legal alien, lying on fed forms is a really bad idea.

Bzybee if you want the next step would be to write Bass Pro Corporate HQ and reference the federal law. This may help to clear up some confusion.

I can't see that 3 months of utility bills is the only way to prove a 90 day residency. It must be a corporate policy, accepting only utility bills would rule out anyone that doesn't have a utility bill in their name such as some spouses. Where do you live and how far are you willing to drive for a purchase?

fireman836 wrote:Bzybee if you want the next step would be to write Bass Pro Corporate HQ and reference the federal law. This may help to clear up some confusion.

Probably be quicker to speak to the store manager or get hold of ProShooter and see if he can work anything out.

My wife, a German citizen living here for 10 years, also had to show 3 months of utility bills to buy a handgun last fall. Caught us by surprise as she had bought guns before without this requirement. The gun shop said that this was the government's plan to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on a gun.

Even if the law doesn't specifically require 3 months from lawful residents no gun shop is going to take any chances, not with the current administration.

Bewaffnet wrote:My wife, a German citizen living here for 10 years, also had to show 3 months of utility bills to buy a handgun last fall. Caught us by surprise as she had bought guns before without this requirement. The gun shop said that this was the government's plan to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on a gun.

Even if the law doesn't specifically require 3 months from lawful residents no gun shop is going to take any chances, not with the current administration.

That sounds about right, the government's plan to exclude terrorists from buying guns eh? well Mohammed Atta could have shown them 3 months of rent reciepts, virginia power bills, bank statements and even his trade school tution from the flying lessons.....yeah, thats about right.... ( Like I said, if your picture is on a virginia state issued drivers licence, I will sell you a gun. NO PROBLEM.)

Keep in mind, gun shops reserve the right to refuse to sell a weapon if there are any questions in mind. They don't want to make an error, and lose their FFL.

So it could be the newness of the address that causes them issues.

Here is an update:

The issue is these companies have a policy that ALL documents used in the purchase of a weapon must contain the same address. For normal purchases this is not too much of an issue. Even for a non citizen since more than likely they will have 90 days of utility bills for their address.

Where the policy fails is when someone has recently moved. The Federal requirement is to prove 90 days residency in the STATE.. but because the company requires ALL documents to be the same address, then you can not satisfy the requirement. To be honest, I have no clue where the 90 days utility bills come from in proving residency since my drivers license should be enough when it has a issue date of 18 months ago.

The two requirements, proof of address and proof of residency are completely separate.

Anyway, I wrote to Pro Bass head office and they responded same day that there were forwarding to the local store. The next day I got an email from the store who explained their policy, but also that they can skip it with approval from head office.. and they had in my case.

So, later this week I will be able to go into the Pro Bass shop and purchase something.

Wish I had done this on my old property. I had 24 acres to practice on.