Posted 10 January 2004 - 05:54 PM
Yep! GonePostal is correct on this (BTW,GP, welcome to these boards! You might recognize me as "postal" from Subguns.com! Good to see some others joining up here!)
At any rate, 18 is legal age for a long gun. You will need to do the background check and fill out a form 4473. NOW when you fill out the 4473, there are questions asking if you are buying for yourself OR someone else. There are two ways to handle this.
First, tell the dealer the gun will be a gift to your father and ask him/her how they want you to fill the form out. Some dealers won't sell in this case even though it is legal for you to buy a gun as a gift to a family member. The dealer may just tell you to answer that question as if the gun is for your own use, which it is (your legit use is as a gift for your father).
OR, you could just go about buying the gun as if you intend to keep it for yourself. Later, after the sale has taken place, you decide it would make a nice gift for your dad. This way eliminates the chance that you find a nice gun and can't buy it due to a dealer who doesn't know the law.
Your choice here.
The reason this is a pissing point in the law is to eliminate "straw man" purchases (where someone buys for someone who can't)and this is VERBOTEN BIG TIME. Don't even think of doing this. Prison time, guaranteed.
I'd personally recommend option 2....will eliminate any possibility of a hassle and you are still within the law.
Tman, anything you could add to this??
john