Ben Cartwright SASS
NES Member
A friend of mine who is an FFL dealer called me to ask me a question about a gun he took on consignment for a customer. A 1932 Colt Ace. The customer doesn't have a C&R and had someone else who has an LTC drop it off and wants to pick it up for the other person because they cannot leave their home.
When he took it in he put it in his bound book and it is not a Mass legal gun because it is not on the list and the other parties don't have a C&R (which our new law would have covered). He normally tells people that since it is not on the list, he cannot give it back and has to sell it. He forgot to mention this this time.
It is my understanding that even if you use a C&R to buy a gun, in Massachusetts you are LEGALLY required to fill out an FA10. The BATFE rules say you "must follow all state laws" From what I have seen most people and most dealers don't follow that part of the law, they just exchange papers and you log it in your book and never notify the state. I fill out FA10's because while you really don't want the state to know what you have if the they start coming around to round up guns we are having a bigger shi* show than whether you have an FA10 or not.
I think for a C&R holder it is up to them (or me if it is me) to fill out the FA10 but a dealer cannot sell or transfer a C&R gun or any gun that is not on the list (list doesn't matter for the C&R gun) to a person without a C&R. It was this sort of situation that I had with "the Rat" about a 1902 top break I was going to put on consignment and he said he wouldn't be able to return it if it didn't sell so I went to Jim Timilty and he and I and Len S. put together the law that is currently in place for C&R guns through FFLs to avoid the list.
SO am I correct that following the strict letter of he cannot transfer the gun that isn't on the list to that other party? I am talking a strict reading of the law, not about what most dealers do, as my friend is extremely strict in his application of the law even to the point of losing sales.
When he took it in he put it in his bound book and it is not a Mass legal gun because it is not on the list and the other parties don't have a C&R (which our new law would have covered). He normally tells people that since it is not on the list, he cannot give it back and has to sell it. He forgot to mention this this time.
It is my understanding that even if you use a C&R to buy a gun, in Massachusetts you are LEGALLY required to fill out an FA10. The BATFE rules say you "must follow all state laws" From what I have seen most people and most dealers don't follow that part of the law, they just exchange papers and you log it in your book and never notify the state. I fill out FA10's because while you really don't want the state to know what you have if the they start coming around to round up guns we are having a bigger shi* show than whether you have an FA10 or not.
I think for a C&R holder it is up to them (or me if it is me) to fill out the FA10 but a dealer cannot sell or transfer a C&R gun or any gun that is not on the list (list doesn't matter for the C&R gun) to a person without a C&R. It was this sort of situation that I had with "the Rat" about a 1902 top break I was going to put on consignment and he said he wouldn't be able to return it if it didn't sell so I went to Jim Timilty and he and I and Len S. put together the law that is currently in place for C&R guns through FFLs to avoid the list.
SO am I correct that following the strict letter of he cannot transfer the gun that isn't on the list to that other party? I am talking a strict reading of the law, not about what most dealers do, as my friend is extremely strict in his application of the law even to the point of losing sales.
