I haven’t purchased a gun in about 20 years so I a bit out of the loop. Here is my question. I live in WI and want to buy a gun for my father’s birthday. He lives in MN though. Any special regulations I have to worry about?
Thanks,
FDR
Only the regs in WI apply to you.
Americans can sell guns to each other all day long – once the original purchase is made.
The challenge will be if it is a handgun – then your relative will need a handgun permit in MN
Dog 
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The challenge will be if it is a handgun – then your relative will need a handgun permit in MN
No permit is needed to receive a handgun as a gift.
-J.
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The challenge will be if it is a handgun – then your relative will need a handgun permit in MN
No permit is needed to receive a handgun as a gift.
-J.
Does this apply between any state? Say MN to IL or MN to WI? Doesn’t the state law of the recipient come into play? Also, if you gift, I assume the registration from the purchase remains in the buyers name – how would the gift recipient go about a transfer?
Dave
It is very easy to buy a gun for someone else, even if they are out of state. You just have to pass the federal background check and be legal to own a weapon since it will be in your name. Then you have two options.
1. you can gift the gun. This will leave the gun in your name. All you have to do is drive over and hand it to him. As long as he is legal to own a weapon, it is perfectly legal. If not, and you know about it, you just committed a felony.
2. you do a ffl transfer. This will put the gun in his name, and he will have to go through the federal background check. To do this you will need to take the gun to a gun shop and do a transfer. The gun shop will take possession of the gun, and then transfer it over to the recipient after the background check. This will need new registration and will put the gun in his name legally. There will be a fee from the FFL holder to do this, probably around $40.
If this gun is a handgun he will have to be legal to own one. Not familiar with the MN rules, but in Iowa you can apply for a permit to purchase with your local sheriff. I assume it is the same, or very similar.
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The challenge will be if it is a handgun – then your relative will need a handgun permit in MN
Dog
Could you say more about the need for a handgun permit? I have gotten pistol purchase permits at various times from the HC Sheriff, but have other pistols that were given to me. My permits to purchase expire after a year. I’m confused?
In MN you only need a permit to purchase a handgun from a licensed dealer, or a permit to conceal carry. There is NO paperwork when one person gives, or sells ANY gun to another person as long as neither are Federal Firearms dealers. In WI you do NOT need a permit to purchase a handgun. You just go to the gun store pick out what you want, fill out some paperwork, and there is a waiting period(5 days maybe??)…..then you can go back and pick the gun up.
Now you can NOT live in MN and purchase a handgun in WI without doing a FFL transfer. It is against the law to purchase a firearm across state lines. If you are a resident of MN and find a gun in WI or any other state, you will have to make arrangements with the seller, to ship the handgun to a FFL dealer in MN to complete the transaction. Usually the dealer in MN will have a small fee to cover the paperwork. This ONLY applies when buying a handgun across stat lines, from a FFL dealer. Again person to person gun sales require no paperwork.
It will be a handgun. Specifically a revolver as my father is getting on the old side and does not want to have to worry about cocking the gun.
Thanks for all the different advice.
FDR
Not that I distrust any of the above, but I would verify this info with an FFL in both WI and Mn. Gunbroker.com has a large list of FFL holders across the USA.
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Not that I don’t distrust any of the above, but I would verify this info with an FFL in both WI and Mn. Gunbroker.com has a large list of FFL holders across the USA.
Thanks Kooty. I was actually thinking of calling a police department too.
FDR
You should call to verify but I dont think there are any special rules (yet) to sell a gun(from citizen to citizen) in most of the free United States.
FDR,
You could always stand on I-94 facing Chicago holding a sign stating you are looking to purchase. No shortage of guns moving between Chicago & Mpls. 
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I haven’t purchased a gun in about 20 years so I a bit out of the loop. Here is my question. I live in WI and want to buy a gun for my father’s birthday. He lives in MN though. Any special regulations I have to worry about?
Thanks,
FDR
I also live in Wisconsin and have purchased several guns in Minnesota, Guns were only released to a person with a FFL, who then did the background check for a fee.
There may be less red tape if you purchase the gun in WI. 
Kudos on the gift idea. Another option would be to take him to a shop in his home state and put everything in his name right there but you just lay the cash down.
Be careful with buying together with the gun in one name and the other paying. I believe one of the questions they ask is if you are buying the gun for someone else – I assume if you answer yes it would be a red flag. Just saying.
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