Can You Buy Guns in a Different State

The internet has fabricated it increasingly easy for people who are prohibited from gun ownership to accept reward of the private sale loophole and purchase guns online.

In almost states, people who are at an elevated risk of causing harm can purchase guns online, without a groundwork check, from unlicensed sellers inside the same country. Federal law provides important limitations on the sale and transfer of guns beyond country lines, but every country should close the deadly individual sale loophole and require that all gun sales—including online purchases—are subject to a comprehensive background check.

Background

45%

online gun buyers without a background check

A recent big-scale survey found that 45% of gun owners who caused a gun online in the by 2 years did so without any background check.

Source

Matthew Miller, Lisa Hepburn, and Deborah Azrael, "Firearm Acquisition Without Background Checks: Results of a National Survey," Annals of Internal Medicine 166, no. four (2017): 233–239.

1 of the virtually unsafe gaps in our country's gun laws today is the background check loophole. Although federal police force requires licensed gun dealers to perform background checks on prospective purchasers, it does not require unlicensed sellers to exercise and then. Xx-two states have enacted their ain laws to shut this loophole and require groundwork checks for at least certain types of firearms, simply a bulk of states notwithstanding do not crave people to pass a background cheque to purchase a gun, including an assault weapon, from an unlicensed seller. (These laws are discussed more fully in our page on Universal Background Checks).

The net has fabricated information technology increasingly easy for dangerous people to take reward of the private sale loophole past arranging gun sales with unlicensed sellers in online chatrooms, social media sites, auctions, and classified ad platforms. Predictably, the online marketplace has go an bonny source of weapons for people who could not pass a groundwork check at a gun store.

A recent large-scale survey found that 45% of gun owners who acquired a gun online in the past 2 years did so without whatsoever background cheque.^ane
Near one in 9 prospective gun buyers on Armslist.com (a major spider web platform for gun classifieds) would not have passed a groundwork check.ⁱⁱ
In 2022 alone, there were 1.2 million ads on Armslist.com for firearm sales where no groundwork check was required.³

Federal law does provide some of import, straightforward limitations on the sale or transfer of guns across state lines, making it more difficult for a prohibited person in a state with strong guns laws to buy guns online from sellers in states with weaker gun laws. Importantly, federal law by and large requires people to conduct interstate gun sales or transfers through licensed gun dealers, who are required to conduct background checks and maintain a record of the sale.

Equally discussed beneath, these limitations, along with federal and land background cheque laws, also govern whether gun sales ordered or arranged online are subject to background checks, sale records, and other requirements.

Summary of Federal Law

Interstate Gun Sales

Federal police force governing the sale or transfer of guns across country lines differs depending on the blazon of firearm.

Handguns

Under federal police force, anyone who does not take a federal gun dealer license, or other Federal Firearms License (FFL), is generally prohibited from acquiring a handgun straight from a seller or transferor who resides in a different state.⁴ This ways that people generally cannot obtain handguns out of state and and so transport them into their land of residence, and cannot otherwise receive a handgun from an out-of-land seller or transferor without the assistance of a licensed dealer in their habitation state.

People may acquire handguns from out-of-country sellers or transferors if the sale or transfer of the weapon is conducted through a licensed dealer in the recipient'southward state of residence.⁵ In other words, a person in ane state may buy a handgun online from a licensed or unlicensed seller in another state and then long as the handgun is shipped to a licensed dealer in the purchaser'southward home land who facilitates the sale. Usually, gun dealers will charge a small-scale fee for providing this service, conducting a background check, and fulfilling other requirements.

I exception to this requirement is when a person inherits a handgun through a volition or other inheritance after its owner'south expiry. In these cases, the person may receive the handgun direct without the involvement of an in-land gun dealer, every bit long as the person inheriting the handgun complies with any applicable gun laws in his or her own state regarding possession of the weapon.⁶ Another exception applies when a person obtains a handgun through a temporary loan or rental, like when visiting a firing range in another state, then long as the person uses the gun for lawful sporting purposes.⁷

Long Guns

Federal law places somewhat looser restrictions on the sale or transfer of long guns like rifles and shotguns across country lines. Under federal constabulary, individuals tin can lawfully obtain a long gun from a seller or transferor in another state, provided that:

Both parties meet in person to conduct the sale or transfer.
The auction or transfer is conducted past, or through, a licensed dealer, pursuant to a groundwork bank check and other requirements.
The sale, commitment, and receipt of the long gun fully comply with state law in both parties' states of residence.^eight

The same exceptions for out-of-land handgun transfers also apply to long guns, pregnant that people tin can sell or transfer long guns through a dealer in the recipient's country of residence, inherit a long gun from an out-of-state owner afterwards the owner's death, and temporarily receive a long gun through a loan or rental for lawful sporting purposes.⁹

Online Gun Sales

Federal law does non care for online gun sales differently from other gun sales—these sales are but governed past the same laws governing other firearm transfers, including laws regarding interstate and "private political party" gun sales. The applicable rules for an online gun sale therefore depend primarily on (i) whether the firearm is being shipped across state lines and (2) whether land and federal constabulary require a background check for that gun sale.

Interstate

As described above, federal law mostly prohibits anyone from selling or transferring a firearm directly to an unlicensed person in another state.¹⁰ This means that in order to learn a gun online from a seller located in another land, a heir-apparent volition by and large take to have the firearm shipped to a licensed dealer to procedure the sale. If the buyer is acquiring a handgun, the gun volition take to be shipped to a licensed dealer in the heir-apparent's state of residence; if the person is acquiring a long gun, the sale or transfer may be conducted by a dealer in either the heir-apparent's or seller's land of residence.

Aforementioned State

Federal police requires licensed gun dealers to acquit in-person groundwork checks on gun purchasers and to maintain records of their sales.^eleven If a person orders a firearm through a licensed gun dealer'due south website—whether or not the dealer operates in the same state as the heir-apparent—the dealer will generally be required to ship the firearm to its physical location or to another local gun dealer, who will and then exist responsible for handling the background check and sale record and delivering the gun to the heir-apparent. Nevertheless, a federally licenced dealer can send a firearm straight to a person's home if that person is exempt from the federal background bank check requirement, such equally someone with a Brady exempt permit.¹² For more information, visit our Gun Dealers policy page.

All the same, federal police force does not extend these requirements to unlicensed sellers. This means that a person can learn a gun online from an unlicensed seller who resides in the same state without whatsoever background check or auction tape required, unless the buyer and seller reside in a land that has airtight this dangerous loophole past requiring groundwork checks on all gun sales. In some cases, the buyer could have the gun mailed straight to his or her door. (The Usa Postal service, for instance, will mail unloaded long guns betwixt individuals who are mailing the guns within the same state).^thirteen

As our Universal Background Checks policy page discusses more thoroughly, this enormous loophole in our nation's gun laws helps explain why online "private" gun sales are a major source of guns trafficked on the black market and sold to people who could not pass a background check. Closing this loophole is i of the gun violence prevention movement's top priorities.

Summary of State Constabulary

States with Background Check Laws

21 states and the District of Columbia have extended background checks beyond federal law. Of these, xvi states and DC require background checks for all gun sales.

Twenty-one states and Washington DC have at least partially closed the background bank check loophole, meaning that residents of these states are required to pass a background bank check and/or obtain a let in club to buy at to the lowest degree some types of guns from unlicensed sellers, including people arranging gun sales online. These laws are discussed more fully in our page on Universal Background Checks.

Some states too place additional requirements on the purchase of firearms from out-of-state sellers. For instance, California more often than not prohibits its residents from acquiring whatever type of firearm out of state without beginning having that firearm delivered to a licensed dealer located in California to process the auction, conduct the background bank check, and submit a sale record to land constabulary enforcement.^xiv (Federal police, by dissimilarity, generally authorizes unlicensed buyers to larn long guns out of state through a licensed dealer in either the heir-apparent'southward or seller's state of residence).

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Key Legislative Elements

The strongest state laws in this area close gaps in federal law by generally requiring that all gun sales—including sales arranged or completed online—must be conducted through a licensed firearms dealer, pursuant to a background check and sale record.

Alternatively, gun buyers should be required to physically appear in person to buy a firearm and to present a firearm purchase permit that was issued by law enforcement, pursuant to a background cheque.

States should also ensure that a country law enforcement agency receives a record of any gun auction, regardless of where the resident caused the weapon.

Universal Background Checks

Universal groundwork checks are essential to close deadly loopholes in our laws that allow millions of guns to end up in the hands of individuals at an elevated risk of committing violence each year.

Trafficking & Harbinger Purchasing

Gun trafficking and straw purchasing dangerously undermine states' gun safety laws and bulldoze the illegal firearms market.

Ammunition Regulation

The ammunition used in guns is what renders firearms truly lethal—notwithstanding ammunition sales are not subject to the same federal regulations equally firearms themselves.

Matthew Miller, Lisa Hepburn, and Deborah Azrael, "Firearm Conquering Without Background Checks: Results of a National Survey," Annals of Internal Medicine 166, no. 4 (2017): 233–239.[↩]
"Unchecked," Everytown for Gun Safety, Feb 2019, https://everytownresearch.org/documents/2019/02/singles-unchecked-bifold-020119d.pdf/.[↩]
[↩]
eighteen UsC. § 922(a)(3).[↩]
See id.; xviii U.Due south.C. §922(a)(5).[↩]
Id.[↩]
Id.; 18 U.Due south.C. §922(b)(3).[↩]
xviii U.S.C. §922(a)(3); 18 U.S.C. §922(b)(3).[↩]
Id.[↩]
18 U.Southward.C. §§ 922(a)(5), 922(b)(3).[↩]
18 U.South.C. § 923.[↩]
"May a licensee transfer a firearm to a nonlicensed individual who does not appear in person at the licensed bounds?", Bureau of Booze, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, accessed August v, 2019, https://world wide web.atf.gov/firearms/qa/may-licensee-transfer-firearm-nonlicensed-individual-who-does-not-appear-person-licensed.[↩]
Come across USPS.com, Publication 52, "Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Mail, at https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c4_009.htm#ep308518.[↩]
Cal. Penal Code § 27585.[↩]

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Source: https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/background-checks/interstate-online-gun-sales/