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"Willed" firearms from CA

VW_Factor

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2010
Messages
1,092
Location
Leesburg, GA
I am hoping that the lawful minds in this forum may be able to help point me to the relevant parts of CA law for this.

My father passed away this last year, and owned quite a few firearms. Much of my fathers side of the family really has zero interest in these guns, however I do know that they would like to keep some of them.

He has a shotgun and a S&W 1911. He didn't have a will made up, but things are settled out. My uncle made mention to me that he thought that because guns are registered in CA, that we'd have to transfer them through FFLs to give them to me as I live in Oregon.

Even without a will made up, I was pretty sure that CA and/or Fed law allowed me to take ownership of the weapons no questions asked. If this is the case, what parts of CA law should I be looking for?

(I am headed down to CA this weekend to go deal with these things, and would like to take relevant law information with me for my uncle to see).

Thanks in advance for any assistance. :)
 

F350

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
941
Location
The High Plains of Wyoming
I am hoping that the lawful minds in this forum may be able to help point me to the relevant parts of CA law for this.

That leaves me out :uhoh:

Several years back (beyond any statutes of limitations) my dad was in declining health several states away and I drove out to see him and mom...... his guns are now in my safe, who's to say when, where, how they got there.
 

zoom6zoom

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2006
Messages
1,694
Location
Dale City, VA, Virginia, USA
The guns being registered in Califoria is irrelevant, it's Federal law that applies here. They would need to be shipped to a dealer in your home state to be transferred to you. If you have a really friendly dealer he might not charge for the transfer if you explain they are from gramps, but don't count on it. Unless the guns are specifically bequested in his will, this is going to apply.

§ 478.30 Out-of-State disposition of firearms by nonlicensees.

No nonlicensee shall transfer, sell, trade, give, transport, or deliver any firearm to any other nonlicensee, who the transferor knows or has reasonable cause to believe does not reside in (or if the person is a corporation or other business entity, does not maintain a place of business in) the State in which the transferor resides: Provided, That the provisions of this section:

(a) shall not apply to the transfer, transportation, or delivery of a firearm made to carry out a bequest of a firearm to, or any acquisition by intestate succession of a firearm by, a person who is permitted to acquire or possess a firearm under the laws of the State of his residence

The feds have no exemptions for intra-familial transfers across state lines without an in-state FFL involved. The only way a firearm can be transfered between nonlicensees in an interstate transfer is by bequest or succession, ie, the transferer must be dead and the firearm is being given persuant to a will or probate.
 
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