waterhouse
Member
Interesting situation, let us know how it turns out.
For those of you asking the OP to call the ATF, what exactly do you thing the ATF is going to do? As far as I can tell no federal firearms related violation occurred.
There is no federal law stating such. Dealers, however, must log the gun in under the acquisition column in the bound book, and the name and address of the person who sent the gun must be logged in.
You may think "hey, isn't that information on the return address? Why on earth do they need a copy of my license?" For starters, the return address doesn't prove much.
It would be like if someone walked in, placed a gun on the counter, and said they wanted to sell it. We'd agree on a price, and then I would ask for their ID to log the gun in. If they said, "you don't need to see my ID, but I can tell you my name and address" I'd politely tell them that I needed some proof of their ID. If the gun later turns out to be stolen, I can't tell the ATF that a guy verbally gave me his contact info and that is what I put in the bound book. That's pretty much what a return address on a package is. In that case, someone would b lying to hide their identity so that the gun could not be traced back to them. This is probably rare.
What is very common is that packages come in with any of the following return addresses:
B. Smith
1234 Any Street
Dallas TX xxxxxx
Any Company Shipping Dept
1234 Industrial Way
Omaha Nebraska xxxxx
In the first instance I don't know what first name to put to log the gun in. In the second I have absolutely no idea who sent the gun.
Including a copy of the driver license inside the box solves all of these issues.
Of course, someone could photoshop their license and send me a bad photocopy. If they are willing to go through that much trouble there isn't much I can do about it, but at least I can honestly claim I did my due diligence when I tell the ATF that I saw a DL or FFL for every acquisition.
For those of you asking the OP to call the ATF, what exactly do you thing the ATF is going to do? As far as I can tell no federal firearms related violation occurred.
Where under federal law is the seller required to send a copy of his driver license with the firearm?
There is no federal law stating such. Dealers, however, must log the gun in under the acquisition column in the bound book, and the name and address of the person who sent the gun must be logged in.
You may think "hey, isn't that information on the return address? Why on earth do they need a copy of my license?" For starters, the return address doesn't prove much.
It would be like if someone walked in, placed a gun on the counter, and said they wanted to sell it. We'd agree on a price, and then I would ask for their ID to log the gun in. If they said, "you don't need to see my ID, but I can tell you my name and address" I'd politely tell them that I needed some proof of their ID. If the gun later turns out to be stolen, I can't tell the ATF that a guy verbally gave me his contact info and that is what I put in the bound book. That's pretty much what a return address on a package is. In that case, someone would b lying to hide their identity so that the gun could not be traced back to them. This is probably rare.
What is very common is that packages come in with any of the following return addresses:
B. Smith
1234 Any Street
Dallas TX xxxxxx
Any Company Shipping Dept
1234 Industrial Way
Omaha Nebraska xxxxx
In the first instance I don't know what first name to put to log the gun in. In the second I have absolutely no idea who sent the gun.
Including a copy of the driver license inside the box solves all of these issues.
Of course, someone could photoshop their license and send me a bad photocopy. If they are willing to go through that much trouble there isn't much I can do about it, but at least I can honestly claim I did my due diligence when I tell the ATF that I saw a DL or FFL for every acquisition.