Many of you know that I have written and published a book on the Browning Black Powder Cartridge Rifles and, as a FFL dealer; I buy and sell new and used Browning and Winchester BPCRs.  99.9% of my book and firearm sales are over the Internet and I sell firearms to California customers without charging an additional fee.  As a part of the firearms community and especially as a firearms dealer, one of the things I find irritating and frustrating is the refusal by many individuals and especially firearm dealers to do business with potential California customers or charge an extra fee for doing so.

Online or Internet-based firearms sales is a growing and key part of the firearms industry, and sellers should feel an obligation to sell legal firearms to anyone in any state in the USA without discrimination.  In refusing to ship firearms to California or charging extra fees, we’re doing a disservice not only to Californians, but to the firearms industry as a whole.  Every time you refuse to sell or ship a firearm to a California dealer for transfer to a local customer, you’re helping to erode their and our 2nd Amendment rights.  Think about it, many of you, hopefully the majority of you, give funds to the NRA and other organizations to help defend our 2nd Amendment rights, then you turn around and do exactly what the liberal California politicians want you to do.

Continued on next posting.

I never realy thought about it much since I have personaly never tried to sell something to anyone in California. If you refuse to sell there you are doing exactly what the gun control people want you to do. Selling to Califorinia residents helps our cause. Refusing to will only help the gun control crowd. As an Illinois resident with a lot of hoops to go through, I understand. Some people here just give up and quit buying guns because it is too much trouble. I go through the hoops just to prove that they may tee me off and slow me down but they will not stop me from persuing my hobby, passion, and constitutionaly guaranteed right.

I offer to ship to California on the few guns I sell, and mostly for the support of the firearms rights as Texasmac editorialized.

However, sales to California are not usually painless and trouble free as he indicates.  This is mostly due to the dealers there, not the buyers.  Many of the dealers there supported the absurd authorization number law.  They felt it would decrease intenet sales, and increase retail sales at their storefronts.  Accordingly, they make it hard to do internet transfers.

The last two transfers to CA I have done have been a nightmare.  The first, the fellow paid me.  Then, his FFL required me to call and talk to them, so they could determine if they would accept a shipment from me.  I had to call and talk to Rose, between 1:00 and 3:00 on Thursdays.  I called the next Thursday, not in.  I left message.  No return.  I call other times, am told only Thursdays 1 to 3.  This went on for about 5 months before they finally send me an FFL to ship.  They required that I ship from an FFL.  The buyer wouldn't get another FFL, so I paid the transfer fee and sent it to them.  it was a $125 stevens favorite, so he wouldn't pay my FFL fee.  Said not worth it.

The next fellow I sold to also had an FFL that wanted me to call.  He would not accept a shipment from an individual.  The buyer wouldn't find another FFL.  He also wouldn't pay the $40 transfer fee on my end.  I ended up eating that, and all on a $200 sale.   

I'm glad to ship to CA, but I'm going to be tough in the future about charging for that service, because it is costing me considerably more than elsewhere.  My dealer takes about 15 minutes to log into the website, enter the info, and get an authorization # to put on the transfer paperwork.  He charges me $15 more for that service than a normal transfer that he just logs into his books.  I don't blame him; that's 15 minutes that he's not running his lathe or mill and making money; he has to make it up somehow.

dave

I just shipped another Winchester BPCR to a California dealer for a local customer.  I timed the time it took to initiate the request and receive the CA Firearms Shipment Approval.  Not rushing, I started and received the approval in 1min 50 sec, so 2 minutes is a better estimate, which also included the time required for the printer to print out two copies.

Wayne

Hi Dave,

I certainly don't consider your comments argumentative.  They present a view I had not run into.  Presented with those types of situations I would not sell a firearm to a CA customer, which would eliminate the problem from my end.  But, as an individual without a FFL, I can see where one might run into a problem.  Due to your comments I just called the California dealer I shipped the most recent rifle to.

He said he normally has no problems accepting delivery of firearms, especially single-shot rifles, from an individual without a FFL, but he does require a copy of the sender’s driver's license for his records.  I do the same by the way.  He did go on to say that handguns can be more problematic depending on the type of handgun.  He also said that he’s heard that some CA dealers will not accept a shipment from someone without a FFL due to CA restrictions on the type and configuration of firearms, especially those classified as “assault-type”.  Therefore, some dealers reduce the problem by only accepting firearms from FFL holders, assuming they are better educated on what constitutes a firearm that can legally be shipped to CA.

Interesting discussion and thanks for the feedback.  As one gets closer to the subject it's never black and white as it first appears 

Wayne

Sorry for the above ranting. 
Anyway, 2 minutes is just about correct for the time needed to complete the transfer paper work, it is simple and painless. 
Some dealers just do not have the time or patience to deal with our laws and I understand that , there choice who they do sell to.
Now for us CAL residents, we pay a,  you guessed it FEE, for the privilege of purchasing any firearm. And thank god so far they leave alone antique arms. This FEE varies but it averages about 40-80 bucks or so. The folks in charge here in this state want to penalize us to the point that we will give up guns and shooting sports period. 
In my way of thinking I just think that the folks of this state would greatly appreciate your support of our right to participate in this sport. That support would include selling firearms to residents here. 
One day soon I hope that we may have a chance of gaining back our rights here in this state. Just make sure you protect yours the next election our you could end up as bad off as we are.
Mike