Firearm shipping to mainland

[AnnieFC]

What's the best way to ship rifles to the mainland? These are my grandpa's and have been in the family for years. Mahalo

[birdmove]

https://www.ups.com/us/en/help-center/pa...earms.page

I only sold and shipped a rifle once. I think I shipped it via Fedex. But, the buyer was a FFL (Federal Firearm Licensee).

https://www.pewpewtactical.com/how-to-mail-guns/#toc1

From the second website above:

"3.You can ship a firearm to a person in another state only if you ship it to an FFL holder in the destination state. That is, if you wish to transfer a firearm to a nonlicensee who resides in another state, you must ship the gun to an FFL holder in your recipient’s state. The FFL holder will release the firearm to the person once they’ve completed the ATF Form 4473 and NICS background check. Even if you are shipping a gun for repair, if your gunsmith is out-of-state, they must either hold an FFL themselves or receive your gun through someone who does."

So, I believe you'd have to ship it to an FFL holder/gun shop, and they would accept the firearm, and deal with having it picked up by the person you designate. They would charge something for the service. UPS or Fedex should have long skinny boxes available, and you'd want to insure it. Also, are the guns registered in Hawaii? Law says, when you bring a firearm here, you have x number of days to take it in to the (in our case) Hilo Police Department and register it with serial number, description, etc in the owners name. Coming up with an unregistered firearm may not be a fun thing to do.

If others think I may be wrong on any of this, please add your comments.


Jon in Keaau/HPP

[Rob Tucker]

You can check it on an airline flight. Check with the intended airline.

[1voyager1]

It will probably depend on whether they are hand or long guns.
When I moved here from Alaska, needing to circumvent Canadian firearms laws, I as able to ship my "personally owned" long guns by UPS directly to my son in Wash.
There are some hoops to jump through, though.

My handguns were more complicated.
I had to ship to myself via an FFL dealer in Washington.
I called an FFL dealer, made arrangements for their receival of the weapons and my picking them up from them.
I UPS'd to them to hold for me.

I picked up no problem from my son.
Picking up from the FFL dealer was a bit more complicated.
Because I didn't keep my receipt handy, I was charged an extra amount as a gun tax by the state when I picked up the handguns.

Further transportation from Washington to Hawaii was very little problem, but you still has a few more hoops to jump through.
You do need to check with each state you intend to transport through.

I carried all firearms in my personal vehicle from Wash. to San Diego.
Bringing firearms from the mainland to Hawaii was quite easily done.
You do need to jump through a few hoops with TSA to get then on the airline.
Picking them up was no problem.

You do need to access the federal department(s) that regulates the shipping of firearms and carriers to find and confirm the regulations.
Or just pay a local FFL dealer to do it for you.

[terracore]

Under most circumstances rifles can be mailed through the postal service. Unfortunately if it is crossing state lines it has to be mailed to an FFL:

https://www.atf.gov/firearms/qa/may-nonl...al-service

https://www.pewpewtactical.com/how-to-mail-guns/#toc5

[kander]

Such silliness pertaining to personal property and shipping it back and fourth. Can you imagine what a stink people would raise would be if the same rules were applied to your car or truck? Both are capable of causing immense damage to persons or property. In fact, A rental van would be far more effective in a public space than a firearm at inflicting damages.
Regardless If you ship from yourself to yourself It never changes hands and gets around the FFL stipulation from what I have read.

[leilanidude]

I do know of folks who have shipped partially disassembled rifles here, in a couple of separate UPS or FEDEX boxes. They say to avoid the post office for things like this.