Ashley Uncategorized

Thinking of Gifting a Gun for Christmas???

As long as it’s a genuine gift, it is legal to gift a firearm, but there are actually a number of things you’ll want to consider before doing so. Check out this NSSF (National Shooting Sports Foundation) article (https://www.nssf.org/articles/giving-a-firearm-as-a-gift-some-reminders-from-nssf/) on buying a firearm as a gift, and make sure you do your research because as we all know, gun laws change daily it feels like. At this time, Indiana pretty well follows the federal law on this one – the gist being that if you can legally purchase a firearm, and the recipient can legally own a firearm, you can gift the them the item.

  1. Consider buying them a gift card/certificate instead!!!
    • Unless you know beyond a shadow of doubt that they want the firearm and that they can legally own the firearm, do a gift card – as you’ll see below, there are lots of issues you can run into buying a firearm for someone.
    • If you are certain you want to buy them a gun, make sure you KNOW EXACTLY what they want. A gun is kind of like a car in that as soon as it leaves the shop, upon return it is considered “used”. That’s why there’s a restocking fee notice in the shop concerning returns. We aren’t trying to be rude, but once it goes home with you, neither we or the manufacturer can guarantee the firearm hasn’t been tampered with, and so the firearm must be sold “as is” as a used firearm. That means we now have to price it lower than its brand new twin potentially sitting right next to it.
  2. Are you 150% sure they are legally able to own a firearm?!? It’s fairly rare, but there is the occasion where we’ve had a potential customer do a background check to purchase a firearm, and they get denied! They’re generally shocked because they’ve lived a straight & narrow life for many years, but they have something from their younger, more stupid days on their record that they didn’t realize would preclude them from purchasing a firearm, or that they thought was expunged. But here’s the kicker, IF they have something in their past that makes it illegal for them to own a firearm, and you know or have reason to believe they may not be legally able to purchase a firearm, YOU are now COMMITTING A FELONY by gifting them a firearm.
  3. Does the recipient live in the same state as you? In states such as Indiana, it is generally legal for you to transfer a firearm with or without compensation for it (as long as you didn’t buy it with the intention of doing so), without any official documentation of the transfer.* However, if the person you’re selling or gifting the firearm to lives 5 minutes down the road from you, but across the state line, that same transaction between two individuals is federally prohibited. You must deliver the firearm (or have shipped which is a whole other hoop to jump through, especially as an individual) to an FFL (Federal Firearms Licensee) in the recipient’s state where they will receive the item into their bound book and then legally document the transfer of the firearm to the recipient.
  4. Even if the recipient can own a firearm by federal guidelines, do you know their local and state laws? An item that is perfectly normal and legal to own in Indiana may get the gift recipient in big trouble in Illinois (and many other states) if it is a prohibited item, which can be anything from a suppressor to a 11+ round magazine.

*We don’t recommend selling a firearm to another individual without documentation. You can print a simple bill of sale template document by performing a quick google search. Just in case that firearm ends up at a crime scene, when the police do the legal trace to determine the trail of ownership, you’re going to be very happy you filled out some basic information concerning the sale of that firearm. Most local gun shops will do the transfer for you for a $25 transfer fee which provides you a receipt that you disposed the gun to the shop, then the shop runs a background check and documents the legal transfer to the recipient.

web admin Uncategorized

Service Review: Glock Grip Stippling

Service Review:

 

My Glock 19 Gen 3 prior to having work performed

Recently, I decided to jump on the Glock Grip Stippling bandwagon.  In an effort to improve the ergonomics of my gun, I sent it off to have Matt at 5BGunWorx do some work to the gun.  I had been tossing the idea of having some kind of stippling done to the gun in question for well over a year, but was unsure where to send it, or who to have do the work.  One of the many Facebook pages that I am a member of is dedicated to Glocks of all sorts, and someone was asking about having grip work done.  Matt’s name was mentioned, as well as his price levels, and I contacted him to get setup on one gun.

Matt is a great guy to talk to, he’s always been quick to answer any question that I might have had.  He explained how his process worked, and why he required a down payment more than 6 weeks before he wanted to see my gun.  I pulled the trigger on having the work done sometime in late October, and was scheduled to have my firearm him the second week in December.  In between, I was sent the work order sheet, and told that all work would be done per the sheet.

 

The week before my gun was scheduled to be worked on, I shipped it off to Matt via my FFL.  My package was delivered to Matt on a Saturday, the work was done on Monday, and I had the gun back in my hand the following Friday.  All told, I was without my pistol less than two weeks!  Matt kept me apprised of what was happening all the way through the process.  I got my Glock 19 back and could not be happier with the way that it turned out.

 

I’ve elected to have Matt work on several more of my Glocks, including chopping one of my Glock 17s to accept Glock 19 magazines.  I put a down payment on that work just before the new year.  My guns are scheduled to be in Matt’s hands the first week in September.  If you have ever considered having work done, I can’t recommend Matt and 5BGunWorx enough.