Need help w/ Texas law - selling handgun

[Shadowboxer]

Hi All,

What is required of me under Texas law in selling a hand gun in a private party sale? I've searched in google and can't come up with stuff.

I want to make sure I stay legal. :)

Thanks!

[Liberty]

Hi All,

What is required of me under Texas law in selling a hand gun in a private party sale? I've searched in google and can't come up with stuff.

I want to make sure I stay legal. :)

Thanks!

If you have no reason to believe that the buyer isn't disqualified to own a hand gun you can sell it it to him.

There is no paper work required.

Now if you want a bil of sale and checking of IDs thats ok too. Its not required by law.

[Shadowboxer]

thanks - that's exactly what I needed to know.

[bauerdj]

Buyer must be a Texas resident

[seamusTX]

The in-state thing is a federal law. These are the state requirements:

PC §46.06. UNLAWFUL TRANSFER OF CERTAIN WEAPONS.
(a) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) sells, rents, leases, loans, or gives a handgun to any person knowing that the person to whom the handgun is to be delivered intends to use it unlawfully or in the commission of an unlawful act;
(2) intentionally or knowingly sells, rents, leases, or gives or offers to sell, rent, lease, or give to any child younger than 18 years any firearm, club, or illegal knife;
(3) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly sells a firearm or ammunition for a firearm to any person who is intoxicated;
(4) knowingly sells a firearm or ammunition for a firearm to any person who has been convicted of a felony ...
(5) sells, rents, leases, loans, or gives a handgun to any person knowing that an active protective order is directed to the person to whom the handgun is to be delivered; ...

Part of (5) which I deleted is irrelevant because it is against federal law to transfer a firearm to a felon.

- Jim

[frankie_the_yankee]

Due to the fact that I have no way of knowing whether or not someone is a prohibited person, my own policy is that I will only sell a gun to someone who has a CHL.

I understand that this goes far beyond the requirements of either TX or federal law. I just feel more comfortable doing it that way.

I would probably make an exception for a family member or someone that I knew for a long time (many years).

[boredelmo]

Cash and carry state.

Make sure they are eligible (age, residency). There isn't really a great way to tell if they are a felon or not.

If you want to bring ink and paper into the transaction to cover you that's something you can do.

[Photoman]

Don't sell your guns. That way you don't have to worry about it.

[txinvestigator]

Cash and carry state.

Make sure they are eligible (age, residency). There isn't really a great way to tell if they are a felon or not.

If you want to bring ink and paper into the transaction to CYA that's something you can do.

On a private sale, you don't have to "make sure" of anything. Federal law requires that you not "knowingly" sell the weapon to an ineligible person.

That puts no burden on you to verify anything.

[boredelmo]

So if i sold a handgun to someone who looked to me as 18+ but was really 14, i wouldn't be in the wrong?

[atxgun]

I haven't had any desire to sell any of my guns but I think would at least check their DL and make some basic yes/no checklist for them to quickly fill out and sign.

[Renegade]

Due to the fact that I have no way of knowing whether or not someone is a prohibited person, my own policy is that I will only sell a gun to someone who has a CHL.

Guess you didn't sell many guns before 1995 huh?

[frankie_the_yankee]

Due to the fact that I have no way of knowing whether or not someone is a prohibited person, my own policy is that I will only sell a gun to someone who has a CHL.

Guess you didn't sell many guns before 1995 huh?

I hardly ever sell any guns. In fact, the only one I've sold in the last 35 years or so was a S&W Sigma 380. I didn't like it, so I traded it to a dealer in RI (when I lived there) for a nice 357 mag 686.

I do not have any desire to sell any of the guns I currently own. So any talk about sales is purely hypothetical. But say in some unforseen circumstance where I became (very) desperate for money and was forced to sell one, I would only sell it to either a family member or a TX CHL.

Every so often, I buy another gun. When I kick the bucket, my son will add whatever I've accumulated to his collection.

[txinvestigator]

So if i sold a handgun to someone who looked to me as 18+ but was really 14, i wouldn't be in the wrong?

"in the wrong"?

If it was reasonable for you to believe the person to be 18, then it would not be an illegal sale for YOU. However, I have never met a 14 year old who I believed was 18.

[dukalmighty]

I realize that as long as i don't believe the sale would be illegal i'm covered ,anybody i've ever sold to was a dealer or i knew well enough to know they were able to possess a firearm legally as in they shoot at the same range as i do.If I think the guy is acting shady i might suggest we go thru an FFL for the transaction,just me but i don't want a firearm i just sold somebody being found at a robbery or homicide scene.