Relevant laws on shipping a firearm to manufacturer?

[bp78]

non-licensee shipping to manufacturer

I have a pistol that is in need of warranty service. The customer service rep was less than stellar but simply told me to send it back and that I don't need their FFL.
So before I go down to UPS or FEDEX and ship it (declared of course), is it indeed legal for a non-licensee to ship a pistol to a manufacturer without ever having seen their FFL? Anyone have a pointer to the relevant law in this case?


Thanks,
bp

 

[tommytrauma]

I'm afraid that I can't cite the relevant law for you, but I faced the same issue a couple of years ago, and was able to confirm via several different sources that it is indeed legal for an individual to ship a firearm to the manufactuer for warranty work, and for the manufactuer to return it directly to the owner.

Be aware that you'll need to go to the UPS or fed-ex hub to do it. Their franchise stores can't do it. My attempts to do so read like a bad comedy movie.

 

[jlmurphy]

No problem, back and forth directly to you, no FFL. The shipping companies require you to use overnite=expensive. Go to main terminal, not the hubs.

 

[SMMAssociates]

I had to return a gun to Para in TN for service.

UPS wanted me to take the gun to their "terminal" but from what I could get from FedEx's web site I could take it to Kinko's.

A little closer and no "No Guns" signs....

I took it there and was refused.

Long story but I ended up driving to their "terminal" - way across town. I had some business in that area set up for "whenver I felt like it" so.... They took it and then we looked in the manual. Nothing there about Kinko's not taking it.

A nasty letter later, the FedEx people said that I was right and sent me a coupon (which I managed to let expire before I needed it).

I haven't checked their web site lately (time to buy another gun that needs to be shipped?) but I may be responsible if they changed it....

They want to keep these things out of their "system" and to charge us extra for the privelege of keeping an eye on them if we do ship 'em. My local dealer can ship a gun to an FFL for about $20 less if I can talk 'em into it. Usually not a problem. That's how I do it most of the time....

While I'm ranting , what about the airlines? Why do they need to do all that "examination" when you check a firearm? Like it's going to jump out of the suitcase and start shooting their baggage handlers?

Regards,

 

[bp78]

Thanks for the responses. My FedEx Hub happily took $57.55 to ship my 4.3lb pistol to NV. I just hope they get it running right and back to me quickly.