Buying TD’s FAL

I’ve decided I should make at least one purchase during this panic gun buying season, so I decided to throw down some benjamins and buy TD’s FAL.  Blue Book of Gun Values says the gun is worth $700, but today everything has an Obama Panic Premium (we’ll call it OPP for short) attached to it, so that must be taken into consideration.  But there is one issue.

TD lives in Michigan, and I live in Pennsylvania, which means it’s time to play the “Reasonable Gun Laws” game.  Since TD and I live in different states, we can’t just handle this through a private sale, even though we can both legally posses the rifle in our respective states.  Asked a local FFL about doing the transfer, and got this answer:

We fax or mail our FFL directly to the seller’s dealer and he/she ships the firearm/s with a copy of his/her FFL. That is the only way we do out of state transfers. It costs $50.00 plus tax plus $10.00 for the instant check, totaling $63.00.

So that’s $63 bucks on my side, and another batch of money on TD’s side to pay for the FFL transfer at his end.  Legally speaking, TD can ship direct to my FFL, since non-licensees are permitted to ship through common carrier (though not U.S. Mail if it’s a handgun) to an FFL in any state.  But it’s hard to find an FFL that’s willing to deal with a non-licensee who’s out of state.  Obviously, I’m not paying anyone $63 bucks to receive a package and do 10 minutes of paperwork.  I know another FFL who does them for 32 bucks, so I might try him.

Imagine how hard it’s going to be to find a reasonable deal on transfers when selling a gun to a friend requires it?  Prices in Pennsylvania are already high for transfers, because in this state, there are no private sales of handguns.  If they ban all private sales for all guns, you can expect dealers to jack prices on handling transfers, since it eats into their business.  This is the world the Brady Campaign wants to bring us all, folks.

13 thoughts on “Buying TD’s FAL”

  1. $63? That’s a bummer. Makes me quite happy to have my local gun shop. (Virginia Arms in Manassas) $20 for a transfer, they accept out of state transfers from individuals (I’ve done a few that way). And, though I haven’t done it but have heard from those who have, if you buy multiple guns from the same source in one transfer, it’s $20 for all of them.

  2. The two near here charge $35 and $50. You can guess which one I use, especially since he includes the call with the transfer fee.

  3. oh yeah: $900 for that rifle was more than I could afford, but not unreasonable. Buy lots of mags while they’re still pretty cheap. The difference between metric and inch pattern magazines is a rib, which can be ground/filed away to fit the mag well.

  4. For gosh sakes DON’T buy inch pattern magazines and grind them to fit a metric receiver. Metrics are much cheaper and much more common.

  5. I know it’s probably cost- and time-prohibitive, but absolute shit like this is quite enough to make me consider a short out-of-state vacation. (Also allowing that the seller is willing to sell to someone from outside his state, another no-no, as far as I know. I’d probably do it, but I couldn’t in good conscience pressure someone else to risk his freedom for a few bucks he could easily get legally.)
    It’s been said for years now that the further restriction of guns would simply create a new criminal class where none previously existed. Welcome to Hope-and-Change. Please register your rights (and pay) at the door.

  6. Sebastian Said,
    January 5th, 2009 at 12:57 am
    Well, consider TD was advertising it on his website …. :)

    Yeah, which has been removed now. What kind of FAL is it?

  7. You may want to try my favorite gun store, Seneca Arms. Might not be too long a trip for you.

    215-234-8984
    116 Gravel Pike
    Greenlane, PA 18054

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