Firearm Ownership

DISCLAIMER: Any federal or state regulations referred to herein are current as of the publication date of this article. Changes to these regulations and laws happen all the time. Do not decide to purchase or modify a firearm based on the content herein.

How do I buy a firearm?

Short Answer: Consult your local FFL dealer and/or local law enforcement. They will be your best bet for guidance on how to build or purchase a firearm in your state or municipality. There are too many nuances to cover here, and rules are constantly changing.

Airguns and Black Powder

These devices are not firearms to the ATF. As such, they are not at all regulated by the ATF.

State and local regulations may restrict:

The sale to specific individuals (e.g. minors)
The use of these firearms for hunting
The maximum velocity or power of an airgun
The use of these firearms within certain city limits

While there may be simple restrictions on these items, these restrictions are significantly lower than those applicable to modern, cartridge-based firearms. In most states, you will find these items sitting on open-access shelves at sporting goods stores. You may even find airguns on the shelves at your local Walmart or other big-box store. Most adults can purchase an airgun or black powder firearm with about as much trouble as you would encounter buying a pack of cigarettes.

Cartridge-Based Rifles and Shotguns

Rifles and shotguns are generally the easiest modern firearms to purchase in any state. State regulations may require application for a permit to purchase a firearm, including a rifle or shotgun.

Rifle and Shotgun Permit

As of the date of writing this, there are 5 states that require a permit to purchase a rifle or shotgun:

Connecticut: A permit to purchase is required for all firearms, including rifles and shotguns.
Hawaii: A permit to purchase is required for all firearms, including rifles and shotguns.
Illinois: A Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card is required to purchase any firearm, including rifles and shotguns.
New Jersey: A Firearms Purchaser Identification Card (FPIC) is required to purchase any firearm, including rifles and shotguns.
Rhode Island: A Blue Card is required to purchase a handgun or a semi-automatic long gun, including rifles and shotguns.

Rifle and Shotgun Restrictions

Some states or localities may restrict certain rifles and shotguns based on the design and features of the firearm. For example, some states ban or restrict “assault weapons”, which can generally be described as a magazine fed firearm with a combination of “scary-looking” features that improve the functionality or ergonomics (e.g. flash suppressor, adjustable stock, foregrip, pistol grip, etc.). The following 7 states have restrictions on “assault weapons”:

California: California has some of the strictest assault weapon regulations in the country, including a ban on certain types of assault weapons and a requirement for assault weapon owners to register their firearms with the state.
Connecticut: Connecticut has a ban on certain types of assault weapons, as well as a ban on high-capacity magazines.
Hawaii: Hawaii has a ban on assault weapons, as well as a ban on high-capacity magazines.
Maryland: Maryland has a ban on certain types of assault weapons and a limit on magazine capacity.
Massachusetts: Massachusetts has a ban on certain types of assault weapons and a limit on magazine capacity.
New Jersey: New Jersey has a ban on certain types of assault weapons, as well as a limit on magazine capacity.
New York: New York has a ban on certain types of assault weapons and a limit on magazine capacity.

Handguns

A handgun is a type of firearm that is designed to be fired with one hand. The typical image conjured by the terms “pistol” and “handgun” probably takes the form of a semi-automatic handgun (e.g. Glock) or a revolver. However, any firearm designed to be fired with one hand may fit this category of firearm. As an extension of the definition, handguns must not be designed to shoulder the firearm. If a handgun-sized firearm is intended to be shouldered, it is considered a short-barreled rifle and is regulated as an NFA item.

Handguns tend to be more strictly regulated than rifles and shotguns. This is probably due to the concealability versus a rifle or shotgun.

Handgun Restrictions

As of the writing of this article, several states have additional requirements for the purchase of a handgun (beyond those of a rifle or shotgun):

Connecticut: A permit to purchase a pistol is required.
Hawaii: A permit to purchase (and possess) a pistol is required for each firearm.
Illinois: A Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card is required to purchase and possess any firearm, including pistols.
Maryland: A Maryland Handgun Qualification License (HQL) is required to purchase, rent, or receive a pistol.
Massachusetts: A License to Carry (LTC) is required to purchase, possess, transport, or carry any firearm, including pistols.
Michigan: A Handgun Purchase Permit is required to purchase a pistol.
Minnesota: A Permit to Purchase/Transfer or a valid permit to carry is required to purchase a handgun.
Nebraska: A Firearm Purchase Certificate is required to purchase, lease, rent, or receive transfer of a pistol.
New Jersey: A Firearms Purchaser Identification Card (FPIC) is required to purchase any firearm and a separate permit to purchase a pistol is required.
North Carolina: A pistol purchase permit is required to purchase a pistol (the associated NC law has been repealed by the NC State Assembly in March of 2023).
Oregon: A Permit to Purchase is required for all firearms purchases, including pistols.

While the states listed above have explicit permitting requirements to purchase and/or possess a handgun, additional states may have waiting periods or other requirements to purchase a pistol (e.g. handgun safety course completion). Firearms laws are constantly changing. For the most up-to-date information, contact a local FFL or local law enforcement agency.

Firearm Receivers

Purchase of a firearm receiver is typically regulated the same way as the purchase of a complete firearm. For receivers that may be built as either a pistol or a rifle (e.g. AR-15 or AR-10), it will generally be treated as if a rifle.

It is worth noting that some states have additional regulations or restrictions on the purchase of AR-15/10 lower receivers. It is important to be aware of laws and regulations that affect you before your purchase one of these receivers. When in doubt, consult a local FFL dealer or local law enforcement agency.

Magazines

Some states may restrict the magazine capacity, which may impact the legality of certain firearms. The following 8 states have imposed magazine capacity limits:

California: California limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds.
Colorado: Colorado limits magazine capacity to 15 rounds.
Connecticut: Connecticut limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds.
Hawaii: Hawaii limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds.
Maryland: Maryland limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds.
Massachusetts: Massachusetts limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds.
New Jersey: New Jersey limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds.
New York: New York limits magazine capacity to 10 rounds.

In some states, you could find yourself in prison for even possessing a magazine that exceeds the state capacity restrictions. Be cautious and aware of your state’s restrictions, as well as those that you may travel to or through with your firearms and accessories.

Do I need insurance?

Short Answer: Generally, no. But there is value to insurance for your firearms and use of your firearms.

There are different types of insurance for firearm owners. Below is a list of companies that offer such insurance:

National Rifle Association (NRA) – The NRA offers firearms insurance as part of its membership benefits. Their coverage includes protection against accidental damage, theft, and personal liability.
United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) – The USCCA offers firearms insurance that provides coverage for legal defense, bail, and damages resulting from a self-defense incident.
Firearms Legal Protection (FLP) – FLP offers insurance coverage for gun owners that includes legal defense, bail bond, and compensation for firearm replacement in case of theft or confiscation.
Lockton Affinity – Lockton Affinity provides insurance coverage for gun owners that includes liability protection, accidental discharge coverage, and protection against theft or damage.

Can I carry a firearm?

Short Answer: It depends. Consult your state and local laws and consider the responsibility carefully.

Choosing to carry a firearm is a big responsibility. You should understand the laws in your state (or any state in which you will carry), before you choose to do so. If you carry and find yourself in a position to discharge your firearm to protect yourself or others, how you will be treated is more a function of the attitude of the state in which the event occurs, rather than the circumstances of the event itself. In some states, you are unofficially guilty of manslaughter (or even murder) by default, until proven innocent.

Do It Responsibly

You should also be well-practiced in using your firearm in a safe and effective manner. When you use your firearm in public, skill and accuracy are critical and the rule of “know your target and what lies beyond” becomes more important than ever.

Practice under duress is also important. If you don’t know how your body will react in a life-or-death situation, you may find yourself hurting innocent people or getting yourself killed in the sh*t. Thinking clearly while balancing focus and awareness is paramount. You may be able to shoot an acorn at 100 yards with your carry gun on the range, but you may not be able to hit a beach ball at 5 yards in a stressful situation. Even if you can replicate your skill in a stressful situation, you may find yourself in a lot of trouble if you succumb to tunnel vision.

Should you choose to carry, we strongly recommend that you take a concealed carry firearm class (if its not required to carry a firearm in your state) and even a tactical pistol class. We also recommend joining USCCA or another similar organization, which provides education, insurance, and legal protection, in the event that you have to use your firearm in self defense (whether in your home or in public).

Open Carry

Open carry refers to the practice of carrying a firearm in plain view while in a public setting. This does not mean walking around with a pistol in your hand, ready to rock. This generally applies to outside-the-waistband (OWB) pistol holsters and shoulder-slung rifles or shotguns. You may not obstruct view of the firearm, for example, with a jacket or other cover garment.

Most states permit open carry. However, open carry in public is currently (as of the date of this article) restricted or prohibited in the following states:

California
Florida
Illinois
New York
South Carolina (allowed for holders of a concealed carry permit)

Be aware of brandishing (“unnecessary and unlawful display of a defensive firearm”) laws in any state where you will carry.

Concealed Carry

Concealed carry is just as it sounds: the general public cannot directly see a firearm that you are carrying on your person. This may include carrying in a purse or bag, in your pocket, in a holster and covered with a garment, or even in your vehicle.

Now, you may be carrying concealed in the legal sense of the word, but it is obvious that you are carrying. For example, if you carry a pistol in an inside-the-waistband (IWB) holster in the small of your back and wear a tight-fitted t-shirt with no additional cover garment, most semi-conscious people will notice the bulge and profile of the pistol. Nevertheless, it is considered concealed if one cannot see the firearm, unobstructed.

Concealed Carry Permitting

There are three levels of concealed carry in the U.S. States may be classified as follows:

Constitutional Carry: These states allow the concealed carry of firearms without requiring a permit or license. The idea behind constitutional carry is that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms, and that any requirement for a permit or license is an infringement on that right. There are currently 26 states in the Union that permit constitutional carry, with more added every year. That said, you can still apply for a permit to carry in most of these states, which may afford you the right to carry concealed in some additional, otherwise restricted locations within your state, as well as in other states that have reciprocity with your state’s concealed carry laws.
Shall-Issue: These states require that a concealed carry permit must be issued to any applicant who meets the minimum requirements set forth by state law, such as completing a firearms safety training course and passing a background check. Examples of shall-issue states include Texas, Florida, and Virginia.
May-Issue: These states give the issuing authority (usually a law enforcement agency or a court) discretion over whether or not to issue a concealed carry permit, even if the applicant meets the minimum requirements. This type of law often results in a patchwork of inconsistent policies across different jurisdictions within the same state. There are currently 9 states that have a may issue stance. Three of these are more of a “cold-day-in-hell-before-we” issue states: California, New York, and New Jersey.

Concealed Carry Cautions

For a list of concealed carry statuses, we recommend consulting the USCCA website.

It should be noted that these laws apply to the residents of the state. How a state treats out-of-towners will vary greatly. A good resource to see the current laws for your state, as well as the reciprocity with other states can be found on the USCCA website.

You should also understand state, county, and municipal restrictions for carrying firearms (either openly or concealed). You may encounter a number of prohibitions, including carrying in bars, government offices, schools, public or private property with signage prohibiting weapons, etc.

Long story, short: If you choose to carry (and we think you should), understand the gravity of the responsibility, as well as the laws where you intend to carry.

How do I travel with a firearm?

If you are travelling to another state, be sure to understand the legality of your firearm before you transport it there. Just because it was legal where you came from, doesn’t mean it will be legal where you are going.

Travelling By Car

Short Story: Understand the laws of the state(s) in which you will be travelling. There are a lot of differences by state.

If you have a valid and current concealed carry permit and are traveling in the state of issue or a state that honors your state’s permit (i.e. with reciprocity), you can generally carry on your person, whether as a pedestrian or while operating a motor vehicle. Be sure to understand any differences in concealed carry laws between states.

If you do not have a concealed carry permit, check your state laws.

Some states consider a pistol sitting in your cupholder or on the passenger seat to be open carry and completely legal. Others don’t share that view.
Some states view your vehicle as an extension of your home. As such, you can carry open or concealed without any permission.

Generally, the safest (i.e. most legal) way to transport a firearm in a vehicle is unloaded, locked in a case, and in the trunk. It is best to keep ammunition completely separated from the gun (e.g. in the passenger compartment). This should satisfy the laws of most (if not all) states. But be aware that some states will require you to have a reason to be transporting a firearm (e.g. going hunting or to the range).

As with concealed carry, transporting a firearm comes with cautions and responsibility. One piece of advice: don’t forget that you have it.

Some states require that you inform a police officer that there is a firearm in the car during a traffic stop. If you have a carry permit, there is a good chance that a law enforcement officer who has stopped you already knows that you have a permit and may assume that you are armed. If you fail to disclose that you are transporting a firearm, you may find yourself in trouble.
Some states or municipalities may have restrictions against transporting a firearm through a school zone (the 1,000 foot buffer around school property). You should generally be safe with the gun unloaded, locked, and in the trunk.

Travelling By Plane

Short Story: Check the current process for flying with firearms and ammunition at the TSA website and with your airline, before you travel with a firearm. AND GET TO THE AIRPORT EXTRA EARLY.

Generally, the following apply:

You must comply with all laws in the jurisdictions where you will be in possession of the firearm (national, state, local).
- If you travel to a state in which your firearm is not legal, you will not be able to check the firearm for your return trip.
- If you have a delay/layover at an intermediate airport in a state that is NOT friendly to your firearm, you can ask the airline to hold your luggage to avoid taking possession of the firearm in the unfriendly state. If you take possession of a firearm that is not legal in a particular state, even if just a stop over between end points, you will not be able to re-check the firearm to continue your journey.
If you are travelling internationally, consult U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. In short:
- You must declare to the USCBP via the Form 4457 all firearms and ammunition that are being temporarily “exported”, and you must present the items being exported to a USCBP officer, prior to departure.
- Upon return, you will need to present the USCBP officer with the Form 4457 along with the firearm and unused ammunition for reentry.
- Note that this does NOT cover the other country’s requirements. The other side of the “temporarily exporting” coin is “temporarily importing”. Most countries will have a process for that. Some will have a problem with it. Know before you go and make the appropriate notifications/arrangements in advance.
Firearms must be unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container and transported as checked baggage. We typically transport pistols in a lockable dry box, with double padlocks. We then lock the double-locked case inside of a checked suitcase.
- DO NOT BRING ANY FIREARM TO THE SECURITY CHECKPOINT. You will go to jail.
- You must bring the firearm that you will be checking to the ticketing desk for your airline. Tell the ticketing agent that you have a firearm to check. Don’t be an idiot and say anything stupid, like “I have a gun”, especially at an airport. The agent will contact a TSA agent to inspect your firearm and label your luggage. KEEP THE KEY TO THE LOCKED CONTAINER ON YOUR PERSON AT ALL TIMES. If a law enforcement officer asks to access the firearm, you must be the one to unlock it.
Firearm parts, including magazines, bolts, and firing pins, are prohibited from carry-on luggage. These must be checked.
- Magazines must be securely boxed or locked in the hard-sided case with your unloaded firearm.
Replica firearms and toy firearms must be checked.
Riflescopes may be carried on or checked.
Ammunition MUST BE CHECKED.
- DO NOT BRING ANY AMMUNITION TO THE SECURITY CHECKPOINT. You will get in trouble. If you attempt this with over 50 rounds of ammo (even if its a tiny box or two of 22LR ammo that you got as a stocking stuffer, which unfortunately got stuck in a random pocket of your computer bag as you were packing up your gifts one Christmas day, and which unfortunately, you forgot about until your bag was run through the x-ray machine 13 times), they will make a spectacle of it. An ATF agent will come take pictures of the ammo, you, your license, and make you sign a form admitting you were naughty. You’ll probably end up on a watch list. Ask us how we know…
- Ammunition must be transported in a package designed to carry ammunition (may be cardboard, plastic, metal, wood). The retail packaging is completely acceptable, in our experience. TSA probably just wants to avoid you tossing a plastic grocery bag full of loose rounds into your luggage.
- Ammunition can be loaded into magazines, as long as the magazine “completely enclose[s] the ammunition” (whatever that means). Our recommendation is to leave ammo in a box.
- Ammunition must be declared to the ticketing agent, including quantities. Know how many rounds you have with you, so you aren’t holding up the ticketing line while you count.
- Some airlines may have a limit to the number of rounds of ammunition that you may check. Check with your airline to verify the limits.

How do I ship a firearm?

Short Story: Depends.

Unless you are a licensed firearms exporter (we are not, so we have no idea how this works), you cannot ship a gun out of the U.S.

Unless you are a licensed firearms imported (we are not, so we have no idea how this works), you cannot receive a gun from another country.

You can ship any gun anywhere that gun is legal in the U.S., without too many issues. There are some limitations. We will cover the main points in a moment.

For clarity, when we use “licensee”, we mean someone who holds a current and valid FFL; when we say “nonlicensee”, we mean the opposite.

Some general points about legality:

If you are shipping a firearm out of state, you must ship to a licensee. This is an ATF requirement, so it doesn’t matter which carrier you use. The exceptions include:
- You may ship a firearm to yourself, “in the care of” an out-of-state recipient. The out-of-state recipient may receive the package without an FFL. The out-of-state resident may take possession of the package, but MAY NOT open the package or take possession of the firearm. They are permitted to hold the unopened package until you (the owner and addressee) can take possession. This might be useful if you are going to a hunting or shooting event in another state, but don’t want to transport the gun with you.
- Firearms sent for repair, replacement, or customizing may be sent from a nonlicensee, and may be returned directly to the nonlicensee, if the same or replacement (same kind/type) is returned.
Nonlicensed persons may ship any firearm to a licensee in another state via USPS (rifles and shotguns only), common carriers (UPS, FedEx, DHL), or contract carriers. Note that many common carriers only accept firearm shipments from licensees (i.e. FFL to FFL).
Nonlicensed persons may ship a long gun (rifle or shotgun) to another nonlicensed person in the same state without an FFL.
- Most carriers still require intrastate shipments (shipments within the same state) to go through an FFL on both ends (FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS for pistols).
It is your responsibility to know what is legal in the destination state. If the firearm is not legal in the destination state, the FFL will not be able to transfer the gun to the intended recipient.

Check with your intended carrier for specific requirements and additional restrictions, but some general guidelines follow:

Firearms must be shipped unloaded and with no ammunition in the shipping box.
If you do not hold a valid and current FFL, you must include a photocopy of your state issued driver’s license (we recommend front and back) in the packaging. Failure to do so will result in delays or returned shipment (at your expense).
Outer packaging should not indicate that a firearm is inside. Some carriers will enforce this.
Some carriers will require expedited services for firearms, especially pistols.
Some carriers will not accept machine guns.
We strongly recommend insuring your shipment. Most carriers have very little liability for lost packages (in many cases, $100 for undeclared value).
- If you are a nonlicensee and your firearm is lost in transit, contact and work with the shipper (if you are the intended recipient) and shipping company for resolution. You do not need to report this to ATF (they don’t want to hear from private citizens). If you don’t believe us, read it for yourself.

If you need packaging for to ship a firearm, check out Cameron Packaging. They have a wide range of packaging solutions for firearms.

If you don’t hold an FFL (or even if you do…), we recommend that you check out ShipMyGun.com. Their prepaid label service will get you the best pricing on carrier costs, and they offer independent insurance.

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