Private sales - what changed, exactly?

[Skyyr]

So with the recent executive order and such, obviously private sales can be prosecuted without regard to whether or not the intent was to engage in the business of selling firearms for profit, correct?

That said, how would one go about listing a rifle online and complying with said EO?

[SteyrAUG]

To be completely safe, you would have to become a licensed dealer (FFL) as suggested by the Obama administration.

Of course you will discover that you probably cannot obtain a FFL which is exactly what they had in mind.

[BoringGuy45]

So, in other words, if you own a gun, you're stuck with it? You can't sell it to to anybody, you can't trade it in at the gun store? Once you die, everything gets turned into the police?

[jpmuscle]

I foresee mass noncompliance, but that's me.

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[Straight Shooter]

So, in other words, if you own a gun, you're stuck with it. you can't sell it to to anybody, you can't trade it in at the gun store. Once you die, everything gets turned into the police.

Not true, at all.

[SteyrAUG]

I foresee mass noncompliance, but that's me.

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It's going to take awhile, and it will be influenced by many things such as who becomes President and things like that.

It's a lot like how everyone got used to the idea that "selling through a FFL" protected you during a private sale even though it was in no way required. ATF strongly recommended the practice and if you asked on the internet in the last 15 years everyone would tell you that you'd be a fool not to protect yourself by having a FFL involved in the process. Only a few decades ago people would have thought that advocating an unnecessary process and expense would be absurd.

Well here we are again, with the ATF making new suggestions. Give it time.

[SteyrAUG]

So, in other words, if you own a gun, you're stuck with it. you can't sell it to to anybody, you can't trade it in at the gun store. Once you die, everything gets turned into the police.

You can legally do all of those things, but I can't promise you that ATF won't consider your actions "dealing without a license." As I stated in the other thread we had on this topic, it will take some time, and probably nothing will happen, but ATF has stated a new opinion and eventually, if allowed, things could really change.

[AKDoug]

Guns on the net are still being traded briskly on classified ad type websites, with face to face parking lot exchanges. Hell, I still see thinly veiled sales on Facebook. The shear volume of this happening sure hasn't seemed to slow down since the EO's in my area. I have no less than twenty guns for sale on the bulletin board at my hardware store.

[Boba Fett v2]

So, in other words, if you own a gun, you're stuck with it. you can't sell it to to anybody, you can't trade it in at the gun store. Once you die, everything gets turned into the police.

I'm raising my bullshit flag.

[BoringGuy45]

I'm raising my bullshit flag.

I'm not saying it's true. I should have put question marks instead of periods. I was asking if that was the case.

[djegators]

Supposedly it's a stricter interpretation of the very fuzzy definition of what a dealer is. Not sure if anything has actually changed at this point.

[SomeOtherGuy]

Supposedly it's a stricter interpretation of the very fuzzy definition of what a dealer is. Not sure if anything has actually changed at this point.

Best response so far. The law has not changed. Official BATFE guidance has not changed. There was a weeklong media circus and a silly press conference where certain government officials claimed they would get tough on supposed (possibly imaginary) illegal dealers. Then certain parts of the internet played chicken little (Fudd edition).

I would suggest that anyone interested read the ATF pamphlet on this topic:

https://www.atf.gov/file/100871/download

Understand that the above pamphlet is NOT LAW, but it is the ATF's plain english guide to what they think the law is. I last read it when this controversy came up and don't remember any errors or unreasonable positions in that pamphlet.

The big press conference a while back had much stronger statements than what is contained in the above pamphlet. I would focus on the written guidance and assume that politicians posturing at press conferences are doing just that. Of course, there is no absolute guarantee you won't be prosecuted for something anyway, but that's also true for sitting in your living room watching TV.