Dealing With Out-of-State Buyers — What FFLs Need to Know

A customer walks in from another state and wants to buy a firearm. Can you sell to them? The answer depends on what they want to buy, where they live, and the laws of both states involved. The rules for out-of-state buyers are among the most frequently misunderstood compliance areas for retail FFL dealers.

The General Rule: State of Residence

The Gun Control Act establishes state of residence as the controlling factor for most retail firearm transactions. A licensed dealer may only transfer a firearm to a non-licensee (a retail customer) who resides in the state where the dealer is located — with different rules for handguns versus long guns.

Handguns: State of Residence Required

For handguns — pistols and revolvers — the buyer must reside in the state where the dealer is located. A Tennessee dealer cannot directly transfer a handgun to a customer who lives in Kentucky, even if that customer drives to the Tennessee store to make the purchase in person. The transfer must go through a licensed dealer in the customer's home state.

The process: the Tennessee dealer handles the sale and ships the handgun to a licensed dealer in Kentucky (the FFL-to-FFL transfer). The customer picks up the handgun at the Kentucky dealer, completing a Form 4473 and NICS check there. The Tennessee dealer logs the disposition as a transfer to the Kentucky dealer.

Long Guns: More Flexibility

For rifles and shotguns, the rules are less restrictive — but not without limits. Federal law permits dealers in one state to sell long guns to residents of contiguous (bordering) states under specific conditions, and some transfers to residents of any state are permissible if the transaction complies with the laws of both the buyer's state of residence and the dealer's state. However, the laws of the buyer's home state still apply — if the buyer's state has restrictions on the type of firearm or features, those restrictions travel with the buyer.

Verifying State of Residence

The buyer's state of residence is determined by their government-issued ID. The ID presented for the Form 4473 should reflect their current state of residence. Buyers who have recently moved and still have IDs from their former state create verification challenges — the Form 4473 asks for current residence, not ID state, so the buyer's stated residence controls.

Online Sales and Transfers

When a firearm is purchased online and the buyer lives in another state, the transaction must go through a licensed dealer in the buyer's state — regardless of the firearm type. The online seller ships to the receiving FFL, who completes the transfer to the buyer. This is standard FFL-to-FFL transfer procedure and applies to both handguns and long guns in the online purchase context.