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Originally Posted by 2ndsojourn
...If there's no registry, why couldn't the 'transfer' be handled like a private sale? Then just transfer it back when he's through borrowing it?
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The issue could be whether or not the transferor and transferee are residents of the same State. The OP wasn't clear.
If they are residents of the same State, it will be a matter of only state law. In that case we would need to know the State in order to opine on what formalities might be required.
If the transferor and transferee are residents of different States, it would be an interstate transfer. In that case federal law, as well as the law of the State in which the transfer takes place, would be involved.
But the short answer is that the word "transfer" should be understood to mean giving possession, even if only temporary, to someone else. So if I hand you my gun at the range so you can shoot a few rounds with it, that is really a transfer -- albeit of very short term and under my immediate supervision.
So for example, if I let you shoot a few rounds at the range with my gun, even while I was looking on, and if I knew you to be a convicted felon (or a regular marijuana user, of under a domestic violence restraining order, etc.) I would be committing a federal crime by transferring a gun to a prohibited person. While that's apparently not the situation here, it illustrates the interpretation and application of "transfer."