Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

My dad just died in Feburary and he left me 2 pistols and 2 rifles. The bad news is he lived in California and I live here in Va! How do I get them shipped from Calirornia to Va. The administrator of his will is holding them for me until I can figure out how to ship them to me. Please help :

You can have them delivered to a registered FFL, and receive them after a background check.

All the Executor has to do is find an FFL in CA that will ship them. I'm not recommending any particular FFL, everyone has a favorite, but usually they exchange info, and it's pretty cut, and dry from there.

Under federal law, you can get the firearms without having to go through a FFL.

I believe, based on http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/44/922

I'm not a lawyer, and sugest you consult one about such matters.... but I think the executor can't ship them directly to you, but I under federal laws you could go pick them up. No idea about CA state laws on such.

I imagine shipping + ffl charges are going to be less than the round trip air ticket to CA =).

The sure-fire legal way is CA FFL to Va FFL, and then a transfer to you.

Reverenddel wrote:You can have them delivered to a registered FFL, and receive them after a background check.

This is how to do it if there is not a will and you would not be the lawful heir through intestate succession, or if there is a will and that will does not specify that the firearms are to go to you.

If you are the lawful heir, and you are able to possess the firearms lawfully in your state (i.e. as you're in Virginia, it's not a Streetsweeper or like shotgun), then the executor may ship them directly to you. If the firearms are concealable they cannot use the postal service, they must use a common carrier and follow their rules.

The relevant statute is 18 USC 922(a)(3), exception (A). This is, as a practical matter, the only exception to the prohibition on receiving firearms interstate.

Thanks to everyone for their help. I went to California and asked a local gun dealer for their opinion and they said "why not just Declare Them @ the airport". So, I called the airline and informed them of my situation and they said that as long as the weapons are empty and in a correct gun case with an approved TSA lock and I "Declare" them when checking in @ the airport then I wouldn't have any issues. When I arrived in Norfolk my gun case was waiting for me along with the other baggage!