Info Request - Taking a gun out of the country

[Kurt S.]

I hope nobody has a problem with a little question that was posed to me today. I just don't feel like taking a bunch of flames this evening, so keep it to yourself even if you think I'm dumb as a box of rocks or a bag of hammers for asking.

A colleague at work is from India, here on an H1B visa. He has a Texas drivers license and a permanent address here, waiting on his green card.

He's going back to India for a short visit next month. A relative wants him to buy a handgun here, and bring it back to India with him. The relative has a recently acquired Indian gun license but apparently good handguns are 4 or 5 times the price they are here and has not yet bought a handgun.

I told him we call that a "straw purchase" here, that it was highly illegal, and advised him against it.

Does anybody have any insight into this? Could he even transport the gun legally when he goes home? My gut tells me this is a hornet's nest of problems but I said I'd look into it for him.

 

[c_yeager]

As far as I know he can't even buy a gun here without already having his permanent residence (green) card.

My money says that he can easily get the gun out of this country as we are a lot more concerned about items entering this country than leaving, but I bet things could get *real* nasty on the other end of the trip. If his friend needs a license to even purchase a weapon I bet its going to be illegal to fly in with one.

 

[Kurt S.]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't really expect a lot of activity from the inquiry.

His friend is actually a relative (uncle) who has a hard-to-obtain license to possess and carry (apparently the same thing in India). My friend is a pretty smart young guy (Stanford & LSU educated engineer, speaks better English than I do) who was not real keen on this deal anyway.

Apparently because of taxes and import duties a $300-$400 S&W snub can cost upwards of $1000 (in rupees or whatever). A Beretta or Browning semiauto is like $2000. (if we have any Indian members who know the real story, I am ready to hear it.) The uncle seems to have thought that since my friend was living in Texas he could buy cheap & transport easily just about any weapon he wanted.

 

[Liberal Gun Nut]

It can certainly be done, without doing a straw purchase. The Indian with the permit in India can buy it directly from a dealer here in the US if that dealer has an export license. I'm sure there are some who do. It could even be done over the phone and shipped directly to India I assume.