Help me to understand something,

[presspuller]

I have asked this question of 3 different gun dealer and have gotten 3 different answers.
As I understand it I can buy or sell to/from an individual a handgun. I would figure one would want to make resonable certain that the person was legit and allowed to own the thing in the first place.
Is this correct?

I live near the state line, my nephew lives just across the state line. If I went shopping in his state and found something I liked I obviously can not buy it since I am out of state. Lets say the nephew was to buy it, take it home and a week later decieds to sell it to me.
Is that legal or considered a straw purchase?
Can you buy face to face across state lines from an individual?
Thanks guys.

[bmitchell]

That is considered interstate commerce and is generally not allowed according to federal law. If the handgun crosses state lines an FFL must be involved, assuming it is a handgun. Long guns may be a different story but I'm guessing we're talking about handguns here.

[Drgong]

To be legal the best thing to do is have the gun dealer ship it to a FFL in your state and pick it up there. Call around, normally a FFL will charge in the range of $20-25 to do this paperwork for you, though sometimes you can luck out. A friend of mine got a free transfer as the FFL needed a few transfers to not himself or family members so it was a bussiness, and he got a free transfer of some guns.