Purchasing a Handgun in Anticipation of your 21st Birthday

I don't see why you can't. The transfer of the firearm from the Gun Broker seller is to your local FFL not to you. Presumably he will not transfer it to you unless it is legal for him to do so.

Personally, I think you are probably better served buying a gun you can touch first rather than on faith from some unknown dealer in another state. usually there is not much price difference if you look around.

To me Internet gun buying is a bit of a crap shoot. Good for specialty items that are tough to come by locally but for run of the mill guns there is rarely much in the way of cost savings by the time you pay for shipping and FFL fees.

On the other hand, I have gotten several firearms that way (I decline to state just how many "several" is) and saved a fair amount of money or acquired something I would have had a tough time coming by locally.

I don't know what you consider to be a "killer" deal but there are several online places selling them for $499 that I found without looking real hard.

Talk to your FFL and see if he has any issues about it. You'll need to be sending his FFL to your seller anyway, so asking costs nothing.

You can buy a handgun any time, the dealer just can’t begin the process of actually transferring it to you until you’re 21.

I’ve done that several times at shops where I’ve worked. A 20-year-old buys or orders a handgun a few weeks before he turns 21. Then when he turns 21, he comes in and does the paperwork, then we run the background check and we transfer the gun to him.

Keep in mind that in some states your drivers license expires on your 21st birthday. If your drivers license is your only government-issued photo ID and proof of address, make sure it’s still valid after you turn 21 and go in to pick up your gun. Or just make sure you get it renewed.

Oh, and welcome to THR!

I bought my first handgun on my 21st birthday, a Ruger Blackhawk convertible .357/9mm. That was long before there was even an internet, so I had to march down to the local gun store and pick it out from the display case.

I bought my first gun when I was 12 years old, a .22 rifle. I took my lawn mowing money down to Western Auto, told the clerk what I wanted, passed the money over the counter and walked out with the rifle and a box of ammo. No paperwork, no questions, and no adult supervision.

Congratulations on surviving to adulthood. Hopefully you will be able to tell your grandkids what you did on your 21st birthday. To ensure that happens, make sure that you don't do what most folks do on their 21st.

The only thing is make sure that your FFL knows how long it's going to be on his books and in his safe before you pick it up. If you just buy it and have it shipped to him, and don't tell him that you'll be by for it on date X, it might not be there when you do, especially if you're talking months and not a couple weeks or days.

mournful, buyer beware

$359 ‘new’ w/box for a $679 msrp firearm should cause you to reflect especially if wholesale is say at minimum $550, where is the seller’s profit margin?

i don’t care if the seller has ten million likes, stars, what have you, ‘new’ is just a word and has many different meanings!

finally, my search on GB turned up high of $6## to low of $2##...

just remember firearms are non-returnable...

sorry forgot to say welcome...

coswabbit said:

mournful, buyer beware

$359 ‘new’ w/box for a $679 msrp firearm should cause you to reflect especially if wholesale is say at minimum $550, where is the seller’s profit margin?

i don’t care if the seller has ten million likes, stars, what have you, ‘new’ is just a word and has many different meanings!

finally, my search on GB turned up high of $6## to low of $2##...

just remember firearms are non-returnable...

sorry forgot to say welcome...

Click to expand...

I'd be VERY mindful of the above as stated by Coswabbit. A lot of the big box stores will sell firearms for minimal profit, but that's by design as their money isn't made on the weapon itself but all the things after (ammo, furniture, and all kinds of other cool stuff). I guess it's possible the bulk buy he's talking about is from something like an estate sale or something.

Are you 100% positive it's .40? I'm asking because the $359 price is what I see on my searches for a .22 version.

Anyways, welcome to the community. I'm pretty new myself but thoroughly the community. You'll find there are some people here who should be working for NASA or something (well, if NASA had their astronauts carry in space because....well, aliens) due to their wealth of technical and practical knowledge firearm and firearm related issues.

Intox said:

Are you 100% positive it's .40? I'm asking because the $359 price is what I see on my searches for a .22 version.

Click to expand...

I found the one he is talking about, it says .40. Seems like a good deal, if one is looking for that model.

I arranged for a purchase of a 1911a1 SA to be picked up on my 21st birthday. Here in IL, we have to wait 3 days to pick up a handgun...but the law didn't speak to whether or not I could contract to purchase the gun and wait the three days prior to turning 21. The gun shop figured it would be OK, and so the sale went. Twenty-five years have gone pretty quick, but that slabsides and I are still together. I wish you the same luck with your birthday present!