Do you have the question, can I gift a gun for the holidays? Watch this video with Independent Program Attorney Edwin Walker teaching what you need to know before you buy.
Edwin: Hi I’m Edwin Walker, Independent Program Attorney for Texas LawShield. It’s that time of year again when we give gifts to those that we love and care about. Some of you may care enough about your loved ones to give them the gift of a firearm for self-defense.
Many of you may be familiar with the ATF slogan: Don’t Lie For the Other Guy, and know that it is a federal felony to buy a gun as a straw purchaser for someone else. Obviously, this law is to prevent someone who is disqualified from obtaining firearms. However, this law also applies even if the person is not disqualified.
Does this law impact your ability to purchase a firearm as a gift? The simple answer is no. In fact, the ATF goes to great lengths to explain this in the instructions for ATF Form 4473 Question 11A: If the firearm legitimately purchased as a bona fide gift to a third person it does not violate the law.
This is straight-forward enough but it is really only half the story. You may be able to lawfully purchase a firearm as a gift, but you must be sure the person to whom you are giving the firearm is eligible to receive it. It is a violation of the law to sell, rent, lease, loan, or give a firearm to a person who the transferrer knows is disqualified from purchasing or possessing a gun because they are a convicted felon, convicted of a crime of domestic abuse, subject to a family violence protective order, or subject to some other federal disqualification.
Further, it is illegal for you to purchase and give a firearm to a person who is a resident in another state without having a federally-licensed firearms dealer conduct a background check on the individual receiving the gun.
Also, you may want to consider that when giving a firearm as a gift that there are so many variables and personal preferences involved with regard to make, model, features and caliber that it might be better to give that person a gift certificate to their favorite gun store.
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