where should you meet to buy a gun from private sale (VA)

[rybu0305]

+1 on the Local Gun Store. But if that is not convenient the back of a Wal-Mart or McD's parking lot has worked too. The nice thing about the local gun shop is you can go in an get some ammo or look around.

In regards to some of the other comments regarding FTF sales etc. I always do a bill of sale and get the persons DL info. The bill of sale protects me because they are signing to say they can legally own a gun. This is totally legal. With ALL handguns I have sold I have required the buyer to show a valid concealed carry permit. This guarantees they can legally own a gun. I haven't read every message in the thread but the above is totally legal and I and a number of good people I know buy/sell guns in this fashion.

I noticed the OP is in VA, check out this site, they have a Bill of Sale you can download too.
vaguntrader.com

 

[NoirFan]

Just another argument, it seems to me, that "car trunk dealers" should be licensed and have to run background checks.

I'll support you on this. It's probably unenforceable in the US, but requiring private sales to go through an FFL and background check is the only additional gun restriction I would support.

So my answer is, I would prefer to meet in a gun store or a big box sporting goods store, where I can see the results of the other guy’s background check and where he can see mine. As a result I seldom buy and NEVER sell face-to-face.

 

[Cowboybootnut]

I've done it several time at my gun range, or a gun range.

 

[teumessian_fox]

I always meet in daylight in a well populated area. I'm also always armed and survey the situation before I get out of my vehicle.

I'm not so concerned about bystanders freaking out. I live in a good part of the country where coctail party conversation revolves around what we're carrying this week.

if you can't trust the buyer to come pick up the gun at your home, how would you trust him with a gun in the first place?

There are so many fails in that statement it's hard to know where to begin. If that's how you transact business I can only say I hope you live alone. I wouldn't want to think your wife and children suffer from your, er, arrogance.

 

[NavyLCDR]

I'll support you on this. It's probably unenforceable in the US, but requiring private sales to go through an FFL and background check is the only additional gun restriction I would support.

Why limit it to guns? Criminals use baseball bats to kill people with. Criminals use knives to kill people with. Criminals use gasoline to commit arson and kill people with. Criminals use poison to kill people with. Criminals use cars to kill people with. Criminals use fertilizer to make bombs to kill people with. Why are guns different? Who do you suppose first started the idea that guns are different and should be restricted more than all other items?

Restricting private sales is only going to affect one group of people: law abiding citizens.

 

[hermannr]

Depending on who/what, I think the local rifle range is the most appropreate place. Why, so you can give the weapon a test run. Try before you buy.

That is the #1 downside of purchasing over the internet, from an FFL or from a private party, you cannot shoot it first. If you get to look, shoot and best even clean the weapon first, you will know exactly what you are purchasing.

Of course, is you are into NIB collectables, you will not be shooting the weapon, only clean and inspect (to prove to yourself it is actually NIB)

Think a used car...when do you see the most little picky things? The first time you wash/clean it????

 

[NoirFan]

Why limit it to guns? Criminals use baseball bats to kill people with. Criminals use knives to kill people with. Criminals use gasoline to commit arson and kill people with. Criminals use poison to kill people with. Criminals use cars to kill people with. Criminals use fertilizer to make bombs to kill people with. Why are guns different? Who do you suppose first started the idea that guns are different and should be restricted more than all other items?

Restricting private sales is only going to affect one group of people: law abiding citizens.

This is the classic copy/paste response to the idea of gun regulation, and the logical conclusion of this reasoning is a society where we have no gun regulations or indeed laws of any kind, since ‘criminals don’t follow the law anyway’. No doubt we have some libertarians here who find that scenario appealing but I’m not one of them. In addition - except for baseball bats - we DO regulate ownership and sale of all those potential weapons you listed, some more so than guns, some less.

A gun is a hand tool which can kill with a twitch of a finger, at distances ranging from right in front of the muzzle to hundreds of yards away. It is easily transported and concealed. This makes it a fundamentally different kind of thing than those others you listed, which are either short range, require committed full-body physical force, are impossible to conceal, or require careful premeditation and planning to be deadly. This will put me in the minority here but I dislike the idea of strangers selling to strangers without any sort of background check or passing through an FFL.

 

[teumessian_fox]

but requiring private sales to go through an FFL and background check is the only additional gun restriction I would support.

Interesting how easily you people will allow your constitutional rights to be infringed upon.

You sure you're on the right forum?

 

[RyanAnchors]

Noir,
Respectfully, please read my post #75 in this thread (last post of page 3).

That have what you suggest here in CA and it hasn't done anything to stop criminals from getting guns.
Also, we have to pay $35 every time we want to buy a gun from a fellow citizen.

There is no shortage of illegal guns being used by gang members in Los Angeles right now.

 

[CapnMac]

Well, I don't know from VA, was only ever along the coast and up a Creek or two; but, it has some "big" to it.

I'm in Texas, where anything under 3-4 hours' one-way drive is a "day trip." During this Second Depression, I've had to empty my safe, one dear valuable at a time. Splitting the driving distance is not only fair, it's a reason to go to some interesting places.

Selecting a place with clear signage from the highway is simply polite. This being Texas, it's also nice to A, not upset the "straights" and B, not distract a passing-by Bubba who might make a counter-offer. (Since I have a habit of finding out-of-the-way BBQ joints, this can be doubly so.)

Range is a good idea, though. If one is near-by and open at the hour of the meet. (I've had to meet with some real good people after they worked a night or graveyard--it's an interesting time to drive in almost any city).

 

[CapnMac]

I dislike the idea of strangers selling to strangers without any sort of background check or passing through an FFL.

This would be a cogent argument if any correlation between background checks and arrests existed.

 

[billybob44]

Parking Lots..

1. Gander Mtn.
2.Home Depot
3.Lowes
4. WallyWorld
5. Resturants
6. (Even) A K-Mart.
The outskirts of all of these lots are just made for Buy/Sell/Trade..Bill.