Buying and Selling a Firearm: Giving Someone A Gun
...So now your friend or family member has their gift – they’re super pleased about it and more than grateful – yet you ask yourself who actually owns the firearm? On the ATF Form 4473 that you filled out when purchasing the firearm from the FFL, you should have checked “yes” to the question, “Are you the actual transferee/buyer of the firearm listed on this form?” If you, the buyer, are buying the firearm with your own money, not at the request of the other person, with the intention of giving the gun as a gift – you are the buyer. Even if you are not keeping the gun, you are the owner of that firearm until you legally transfer it to the intended recipient. This satisfies federal laws, but state and local laws may impose tighter restrictions. And of course, in all cases it is illegal to transfer a firearm to a person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe the person is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition, or that person will use the firearm in a crime. All these are offense with severe prison sentences and heavy fines....