OK to ship gun to myself?

[NavyLCDR]

While it is legal, I think you will find the "common carriers" require you to ship it to a FFL, their rules, not ATF's.

If it were a handgun, then you would have fly up there with it. FEDEX and UPS will not allow you to ship to yourself. I have called and asked them on several occasions and read there tarrifs, the most recent being when I had to get several handguns back from Alaska.

Could someone, then, please explain to me what the bolded portion below in the actual UPS official tariff means? (written page 5, electronic page 8)

http://www.ups.com/media/en/terms_service_us.pdf

3.6 Firearms and Ammunition
UPS accepts packages containing
firearms, (as defined by Title 18, Chapter
44, and Title 26, Chapter 53 of the United
States Code), from and between licensed
importers, licensed manufacturers, licensed
dealers and licensed collectors, as defined
in Title 18, Chapter 44 of the United States
Code, law enforcement agencies, from and
between persons not otherwise prohibited
from shipping firearms by federal, state or
local law, and when such shipment
complies with all federal, state and local
laws applicable to the shipper, recipient,
and package.

FEDEX, on the other, DOES PROHIBIT such shipments in their official tariff (page 110):

http://images.fedex.com/us/services/pdf/SG_TermsCond_US_2010.pdf

Firearms
A. FedEx Express will transport and deliver firearms as defined by the United States Gun
Control Act of 1968, between areas served in the U.S., but only between:
1. Licensed importers; licensed manufacturers; licensed dealers; licensed collectors;
law enforcement agencies of the U.S. or any department or agency thereof; and
law enforcement agencies of any state or any department, agency or political
subdivisions thereof; or
2. Where not prohibited by local, state and federal law, from individuals to licensed
importers, licensed manufacturers or licensed dealers (and return of same).

 

[Rio Laxas]

Could someone, then, please explain to me what the bolded portion below in the actual UPS official tariff means?

It means they don't follow their own written policy. I have tried to ship handguns to myself in Alaska and back to Texas multiple times through them, and I have always been refused. If I went down to a local UPS store or a mom and pop shipper they would probably let me, but that would be against their rules. The last time I tried was a month ago, when I thought I was going to drive down the Alcan. If I hadn't changed my plans to flying back, I would have had to ship my handguns to an FFL.

 

[NavyLCDR]

I would have had to ship my handguns to an FFL.

Just to be clear, in case there is any confusion since there has been a lot of discussion regarding FFL's...

Handguns can only be transferred to you by an FFL in your own state of residence, even if they are your own handguns! And the transfer will have to comply with all the laws of that state, such as if your state has waiting periods, or one handgun per month, etc., all those laws will apply as well.

So a shipment to an FFL may work on a return trip from out of state, but won't work on the trip to an out of state location.

Rifles are generally OK, but you also have to be careful with that too. Many FFLs won't do rifle transfers to out of state residents (such as Dick's Sporting Goods and Big 5) because they don't want to mess with the laws of the recipient's state of residence.

 

[AStone]

These rules are really starting to suck.

 

[Sam1911]

These rules are really starting to suck.

What...just NOW?



I agree, of course. But I also find it frustrating that there are areas of the rules where folks (dealers, shipping carriers or their outlets, and regular folks alike) just won't go because, even if it is o.k. and right there in the rules, it sounds "scary" or too close to the line, or too much of a hassle.

"I'll drive 50, but not 55 because that's awful close to the edge... better 'play it safe.'"

 

[cane]

I used to work in Alaska in the summer. We would return to Texas in the fall, usually by airline flights, and I would bring my pistol in checked baggage. One year we flew to Vancouver BC, boarded a cruise ship for a repositioning cruise that ended in Miami. Couldn't take the pistol with me. Instead I UPS'ed it to a well known gunsmith for some modifications. I used my Texas address on all the paper work, so when the work was done, it was "returned" to my Texas address.