Shipping Firearms to Yourself

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AWorthyOpponent

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This might belong in the legal section, but I thought it was better suited here because I'm fairly sure you CAN do it, I'm just looking for a better feeling as to HOW...

I am going to be moving in a couple of weeks from Florida to Colorado. I already have a place of residence set up and have begun shipping boxes, and moving out there slowly but surely. I will be driving my personal vehicle out there for the final trip at the end of June. My question is, what can I legally do with my firearms in terms of shipment. They are all compliant with the local regulations of the place I am moving to, however some of the places that I will be visiting on the drive out there do not allow civilian possession, or something else that may make the firearm illegal in the place I am visiting. I have heard (through online forums) of people shipping firearms to themselves for purposes of hunting, or something like that, but wanted to know if you could do this if moving. The package would be both shipped as well as picked up by myself.

I just want to make sure that I do this legally correct, as I do not intend on breaking the law, and would like to be able to make the stops that I plan during the trip. Would I have to have them shipped to an FFL and go through the whole 4473 form process again for each firearm?

Is there anyone here that has done this? If so, who do you recommend I use to ship? (FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc...)

(this was posted on behalf of my brother. I dodnt feel that i could help him, so I thought you all could)
 
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If all un-loaded, and, in the Car Trunk or in Locked Cases if the vehicle is an SUV with no 'Trunk', you might be just fine, far as the States you will be passing through.


I will be facing a similar thing one of these days, where, my fantasy is one of being pulled over for a tail light not working, and, the Officer wants to know if I have any Guns in the Car...then, wants to run all their numbers...


Traveling to Alaska is usually the one where shipping is the issue, since Canada has very screwed up Gun Laws.
 
Well, the problem is that many of the problem areas are the areas that I will be visiting. I wanted to go out and visit family on the east coast (DC, New York, Chicago, etc) before i move to the other sife of the country, in which case ill be spending a night at their house before getting back on the highway.
 
If all un-loaded, and, in the Car Trunk or in Locked Cases if the vehicle is an SUV with no 'Trunk', you might be just fine, far as the States you will be passing through.
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I thought I read that the OP was looking to ship and not carry in his car. I don't know Colorado laws on this matter so unfortunately I can't comment on compliance of shipping via a carrier. Sorry.
 
http://www.atf.treas.gov/firearms/faq/faq2.htm#b10

Quote:
(B10) May a nonlicensee ship firearms interstate for his or her use in hunting or other lawful activity?

Yes. A person may ship a firearm to himself or herself in care of another person in the state where he or she intends to hunt or engage in any other lawful activity. The package should be addressed to the owner. Persons other than the owner should not open the package and take possession of the firearm.
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If you are planning to ship handguns, you'll need to use someone other than the USPS. Unfortunately, the major shipping companies all have unique regulations about this.

Read more here: http://www.thegunzone.com/ship-guns.html
 
Okay, lets put an end to this. You can ship them to yourself. You cannot use the Postal Service to ship handguns, you'll have to use a common carrier for those. You can use the Postal Service for your long guns.
http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/unlicensed-persons.html#shipping-firearms-additional
Q: May a nonlicensee ship firearms interstate for his or her use in hunting or other lawful activity?

Yes. A person may ship a firearm to himself or herself in care of another person in the State where he or she intends to hunt or engage in any other lawful activity. The package should be addressed to the owner. Persons other than the owner should not open the package and take possession of the firearm.
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You would be shipping the firearms to yourself for lawful activities. Also, Colorado has no law you should be concerned with, regarding this issue. Also, I highly recommend you join the hunting community out here once you arrive. It's awesome!!

edit:
Sam posted as I was typing.
He covers some of my info.
 
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Re: Shipping Guns to Yourself

Yes, you can ship your guns to your new address legally. Given your planned route, sounds like the best idea.

The USPS will be happy to ship all your long guns, send them Registered with Insurance for pickup at the local Post Office and do not put your Colorado address anywhere on the mailing label so they don't accidentally deliver them to your new neighbor. It won't be cheap but it is fairly reliable.

I wouldn't advise sending them UPS or FedEx since they are likely to return them as undeliverable if you aren't there within 7 days.

Handguns are a whole other kettle of fish. USPS won't accept them from you if you are not an FFL holder and most likely neither will UPS. So, FedEx is about all that is left unless you have enough to make a big box and ship them common carrier as LTL freight. Could be that your best bet on the handguns is to box them up good and give your local gunsmith a few dollars to log them into his book until you call from Colorado and request return mailing of your "repaired" handguns. He can mail them directly to you Registered and insured.

Personally, I always just rolled them up in blankets then locked them in wooden crates way up front on the floor of a 32 foot U-Haul full of the detritus of my life and tore off down the road. Not many thugs, Jack Booted or otherwise, have the patience to dig through 27 feet of rolled up rugs, JCPennys lamps, mattresses and clothes to see if there's anything of interest up next to the cab. It's amazing how quickly overstuffed couches and recliners deplete a constable's curiosity about what you might be hauling, especially if you sort of crowd the white line when he pulls you over so the big rigs rushing by cause the bobtail the rock and roll a little.
 
...FedEx is the anti-gun carrier...
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Probably referring to this:

FedEx firearms policy:
4. Firearms. FedEx will only accept shipments of firearms when either the shipper or recipient is a licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, licensed dealer or licensed collector
Click to expand...
(Quoted from the like I provided above.)

Significantly more restrictive than federal law requires.
 
Do you have any friends in Colorado that will accept the shipment for you? If you are shipping handguns, UPS requires overnight delivery, so they would get there long before you would. and - like someone else said, you only get three delivery attempts before UPS sends them back to origin. But you can go online and divert the shipment to a UPS center to hold for pickup.

The best bet would be to send them to yourself in care of a friend or relative in CO, though.
 
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