The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Hi sorry if this has been covered before but is it possible to go on holiday to America and buy a shotgun or bolt action rifle that I have a slot for and bring it back home without importing to a rfd etc.

As I understand it you have to be resident. Either a green card or US citizen.

Thanks for the clarification breacer

What Breacher says. If you buy from dealer you'll need a background check - so NO.

Buy privately - not a good idea - plus I would imagine horrendous paperwork with the BATF etc

I think if you go to a gun exporter, there are some, they do the paperwork and then you can buy and bring the gun back on the same plane through US and UK customs.

breacher wrote:As I understand it you have to be resident. Either a green card or US citizen.

From my own research I've found that an individual can purchase firearms as a "nonimmigrant alien". This entails buying a hunting license, having a valid I-98 number (if you're there legitimately you'll have this automatically!) and being able to prove residence in-state - by showing a driving license, utility bill or similar. A 90 day continuous state residency requirement for nonimmigrant aliens was recently dropped after the Supreme Court ruled that Constitutionally protected rights applied equally to non-US citizens living in the States as they do with their own.

To the OP, this unfortunately means you cannot purchase whilst on holiday, a private individual buying on your behalf with the intention to help you export would also be considered as a straw buyer - certainly not something you'd want to get mixed up in. Not that you ever intimated that was something you were considering of course - just a few words of advice.

Chuck wrote:Buy privately - not a good idea - plus I would imagine horrendous paperwork with the BATF etc

Although you might find somebody willing to sell, if you were to purchase you'd be committing a felony under US law as you'd be considered as a prohibited person if you were simply over there on holiday. You may have already covered that if by "horrendous paperwork" you meant court and jail time!

Apart from all the BATFE stuff you'd be involved in, you would quite probably have Homeland Security all over you and you really don't want to do that. I'm a dual US/Canadian citizen, and even I don't bother crossing over to buy guns and/or ammo. It just isn't worth the bother.

The only way to do this is have a company purchase and export for you. The fees involved in doing so, will be as follows (approximately)

7-10% of retail cost as their fee (or $250, whichever is greater)
Export license $250
Shipping $200+
Import VAT and duty 20% and 2%
Freight forwarder+clearance fees c.£200

You might be able to bring it back on the plane with you, and avoiding some of the fees...but would likely be a hassle, and you would need to have a valid hunting permit to be in possession of a firearm in the US.

If you then wish to sell or transfer it at some point in the future, you will need to have it proofed before you do so...

You may have already covered that if by "horrendous paperwork" you meant court and jail time!

Ithanks everyone.I was just thinking why not get a good deal when over but as I thought it's a no no