[Frank Ettin]

Originally Posted by RX-79G

Not to suggest anything illegal, but is there really anything wrong with leaving your pistol in your mother's safe keeping?...

As dogtown tom has pointed out, you are in fact suggesting illegal conduct. And it's illegal conduct which can have grave consequences.

You clearly do not understand the law. Where legal issues are concerned you should not be spouting off about things you don't understand. You could get someone into a lot of trouble.

Originally Posted by RX-79G

...Is there a legal difference between one private shipper (Mom) and UPS?...

There most definitely is. In the law, the term "common carrier" means (emphasis added):

1.a company offering services to the public over wires or satelite systems. 2. a transporter that serves all public, follows a schedule, carries specified cargo, and is the carrier of the contract or carriage...

Originally Posted by RX-79G

...In the end, a transfer is just about who owns a gun, rather than who has possession of it...

Absolutely wrong.

Possession means:

1 a : the act of having or taking into control...

Transfer is about possession, not ownership.

Some definitions of "transfer" (emphasis added):

• http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/transfer:

  ...Transfer encompasses the sale and every other method, direct or indirect, of (1) disposing of property or an interest therein or possession thereof;...

• http://www.thefreedictionary.com/transferred:

  2. Law To make over the possession or legal title of; convey.

• http://law.yourdictionary.com/transfer:

  Any and every method of removing something from one person or place to another; specifically, the handing over of possession or control of assets or title. ...

Let's look at the statutes again:

1. 18 USC 922(a)(3), which provides in pertinent part (emphasis added) as follows:

   (a) It shall be unlawful—
   ...
   
   (3) for any person, ... to transport into or receive in the State where he resides ...any firearm purchased or otherwise obtained by such person outside that State,...

2. And 18 USC 922(a)(5), which provides in pertinent part (emphasis added) as follows:

   (a) It shall be unlawful—
   ...
   
   (5) for any person ... to transfer, sell, trade, give, transport, or deliver any firearm to any person ...who the transferor knows or has reasonable cause to believe does not reside in ... the State in which the transferor resides..;

In 922(a)(3) the statute refers to transporting or receiving a firearm obtained -- words broader than ownership and consistent with possession. In 922(a)(5), the references to "transfer", "sell", "transport" and "deliver" are also consistent with possession and broader than ownership.