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Originally Posted by Fishing_Cabin
. . . .A FFL is bound by the federal laws dealing with age to purchase.
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To be slightly hair-splitting, and just a little more precise, an FFL is bound by both state
and federal laws dealing with age of purchase. It's just that no states (AFAIK) have an age requirement above that mandated by federal law (21). That means that complying with federal law is also compliance with state law.
Note also that state law may contain other requirements with which the FFL (or even a private seller) must comply before selling a handgun to a potential purchaser, such as verifying that the purchaser has a purchase permit, or waiting an allotted number of days before transferring the pistol to the purchaser. You'll need to check your state laws for these.
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Originally Posted by rifleman8
. . . .I'm a little confused as to the "Actual Buyer/Transferee" section. If I'm understanding correctly, according to this, "You are the actual transferee/buyer if you are legitimately purchasing the firearm as a gift for a third party," a parent would be the actual buyer if they were to gift it to me.
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There is nothing under federal law to prevent one non-prohibited person from purchasing a firearm as a gift for another non-prohibited. IOW, if Al (fictitious, but not a prohibited peson) goes down to Frank Fletcher's Famous FFL shop (fictitious, but I like the alliteration) and sees a pistol that he thinks would make a great gift for Bob (also fictitious, also non-prohibited). Alfred can buy it, mark himself as the actual purchaser, and go give it to Bob. I'm sure that Bob will be very happy. However, if Bob gave Al some money and asked Al to go pick up that nice gun from FF's FFFL shop, then Al would not be the "actual purchaser" within the meaning of the relevant laws, and cannot make the purchase. If he does so, he has: (a) engaged in a straw purchase; and (2) would have to lie on the 4473 where it asks if Al is the actual purchaser. These are
big no-nos, as in felony-type no-nos.
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Originally Posted by rifleman8
However, I'm confused as to the actual ownership. I thought that handguns were registered to the owner by serial number.
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Nope. There's no federal firearm registry. I haven't done a survey, but I would also guess that in most states, there's no registry. Certain jurisdictions do have registration requirements, though. DC, NY, CA, IL come to mind. I'm afraid that I don't know what PA does on this.
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Originally Posted by rifleman8
. . . .Is this something the local PD would be knowledgeable in? Maybe a trip there would help clear things up.
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Perhaps yes, perhaps no. If you're going to go visit them, be sure that you do so before taking action to purchase a handgun. I would also suggest reviewing your local and state laws and, if it still doesn't make sense, find a local attorney with some experience in firearms laws and go get a short consult on the matter.