I did a search on here and didn't really find the answer to my question.

My wife is active duty Army and we are currently stationed in Hawaii. I had several of my firearms shipped here from our last duty station and have come to realize it was a big mistake. I am wanting to ship some of them back to Minnesota. I am flying back on the 11th of April so I will be home to recieve them. What is the best "LEGAL" way to ship them? SOme of these are worth a couple thousand dollars so I am a little worried about them. A new in the box Walther GSP with extra barrel and Rizzini shotgun. Plus various other handguns and rifles.

I don't really want to leave them here with my wife since she retires within a year and she doesn't want to have to worry about them while I am gone from Hawaii.

Please help or let me know where I can find the regs.

Thank you in advance,
Keith aka WWhunter

I'd find a dealer in Hawaii, take the firearms to him, and have him ship them to a dealer near where you are going to in Minnesota.

that's probably more complex and expensive than it needs to be, but if it was me, would let me sleep at night.

the above assuming you'll be a Minnesota resident.

Tin can,

That idea has already been discussed with the significant other. If you have been to Hawaii you know how expensive things can be. The cost involved with doing this for the amount of firearms I want to send back would be very expensive. Between $50-$100/gun just for doing the paperwork. This does not include the shipping or insurance.
Keith

quote:

Between $50-$100/gun just for doing the paperwork

Ouch.

I was afraid of that. I'm outta ideas, but there are a slew of people here who will have more experience with this than me.

can they go military from your wife to you?

Yeah! I think the dollar gets devalued once you land on these Islands! LOL

Why don't you check them as baggage on the plane? Every airline has different rules. You're not importing anything and you really don't need any FFL to do any paperwork. You can ship firearms to yourself without paying an FFL to do tons of paperwork you don't legally need to have done. They are just trying to suck your money out of your wallet. There's no transfer of ownership, so there shouldn't be any need to create a paper trail. Check online for the airline you're flying and get your firearms as baggage info there. Don't just call and ask someone at the airport. They might think they have a clue, but in reality they may not. You can download a current copy of Federal firearms laws as a PDF file from the ATF web site. Then you can search for shipping in the document.

I am fairly certain you can ship them to yourself in Minnesota. I believe there is a provision in the law which allows an owner to ship from duty station to home base if they are to him.

There is a law that states you can ship a firearm to an individual to hold for you till you arrive. The idea of course is for hunting but I would assume it would work in this situation also. As I recall the recipient cannot open the package.

I found this one the ATF website on time. Check there to make sure I am right.

Here it is.

Check out questions B7 B8 B9 and B10

Check out Schofield Rod and Gun club or K-Bay rod and gun club. They have FFLs and ship for active duty as well as dependants. Al Mongeon handles the K Bay thing and his # is in the book in Kailua Oahu. I would try them first. Good luck. Tell Big Al I said Hi!
Aloha, Mark

For longarms, USPS Priority.

Insured.

flaco

I would do what gunmaker said. Get a good travel case and carry them with me on the plane as checked baggage. Ship you clothes/suitcase ahead of time.

I will assume that you are flying commercial so. Ship the long guns to yourself USPS priority the day before you leave, and the airlines allow up to 6 hand guns last time I checked as checked baggage.

I just went through a HUGE runaround with UPS and USPS trying to ship a rifle I sold to another member. That is a whole different story, but they did show me an internal USPS document detailing gun shipping rules, and there were some exceptions to the general ban on hand gun shipping made for armed forces personnel. You may want to ask about that - it was a USPS guide to firearms shipment, dated 2000.

Todd

Don't just ship USPS priority. Ship them as registered mail. For the long guns that is.

Thanks for all the info everyone. After calling ATF, I found out that I can only send the handguns by UPS or FedEx. I will carry a couple on the airlines but I don't have room to carry all of them. The long guns will/can be easily shipped USPS. Insured of course.

Bohica/Mark,
When was the last time you dealt with the Rod and Gun club at Schofield? We were living on Schofield til last week and when we got here 3 years ago the R&G club was shut down due to deployments. Haven't been around enough to to see if they have reopened.
Keith

WW Hunter,

When I was at the Tulsa show I spoke with an on duty ATF Agent that was working the booth. He said that you can ship a firearm from yourself to yourself, the stipulation is that the receiving person must not open the package. Only you as the owner may open the package so tht a transfer can not be alleged. My experience has been that Fed Ex has been the best to deal with. I always ship guns a promptly as possible - overnight or 2nd day, so that it has less exposure to theft and package handlers.

Good Luck

When I ship firearms I usually call UPS, tell them I am shipping firearms and schedule a pickup at my house. Very easy, pay with a CC on the phone and I dont have to deal with the dimwits at the shipping stores (I live in a very anti gun area and they go white when you even mention the word "firearm").

Priority mail is very safe as the package is checked every time it enters and leaves a post facility and is stored in a secure area. Do not mark the package as a firearm and disclose to the agent at the counter that it is an unloaded firearm, as required by federal law. I ship in plastic hard cases secured with color coded nylon tie wraps then taped. FFL dealers may USPS Handguns during the normal course of their business. This enables the cheap Priority mailing of handguns. If you UPS or FedEx handguns they must go overnight which you will find very expensive. Last time I had to ship a handgun I paid my local pawnbroker who has an FFL $10.00 plus the priority mail insured postage, I had it shipped to another FFL holder. It came to one half the cost of UPS or FedEx. Also, if you are a law enforcement officer or a military officer you can mail handguns. You may Priority mail a long gun to yourself. If the Post Office guys tell you that you cannot just smile, ask for the post master, and him or her dig out the regulations. Be nice but firm.