My dad came to visit last year and we made our usual pilgrimage up to the gun store. He found a .17 HMR that he just had to have so we started the paperwork. Everything was going fine until the clerk saw him put down TN as his state.
Dad lives in TN, and I'm in VA. Long gun sales are legal (i.e. Dad was legal to purchase the firearm here and take it back to TN). The clerk however didn't think that was the case. We argued for about 15 minutes and finally I told him to call the ATF. We got ATF on the phone who told us to contact the TN State police...who told us to contact the ATF. This went round and round for about 45 minutes and I finally lost my temper a little bit.
I told the guy look, if you don't know the laws and you work in a gun store then I'll just buy the rifle. He grabbed the rifle off the counter and took a couple steps back and told me "No, I won't sell you the rifle...you'll just give it to you dad...that's a straw purchase!" Then I go into how my purchasing a firearm for my dad and giving it to him as gift is not a straw purchase...so we argue some more.
Long story short, at this point I threw a hissy fit (we had be doing this crap for over 2 hours and the clerk was getting $hitty with me). Got the manager and gave him an earful. The manager (also not familiar with the law) finally got the TN state police on the phone (must've been a different person this time) who said yes, it was legal for a TN resident to purchase a long arm in VA. I have no idea why the ATF person we spoke to couldn't quote the regs.
Dad filled out the paperwork, did the background check (and was approved immediately) and that was that. The clerk became very apologetic - but dammit, if you work in a gun store you have to know the laws!!!!