View Single Post
Old December 27, 2012, 03:29 PM   #6
Frank Ettin
Staff
 
Join Date: November 23, 2005
Location: California - San Francisco
Posts: 9,471
Quote:
Originally Posted by tom49
...is there any way i could get in to trouble...
There will always be ways you could get into trouble if you try hard enough. But you should generally be okay loaning a gun to your brother-in-law, subject to the following:
  • Loaning him a gun is a transfer, and you will need to follow any laws applicable to the transfer of a handgun. If he lives in your State, there will probably be no or minimal formalities required, but you need to check that out. If he lives in another State, you need to comply with federal interstate transfer laws.

  • If there's any reason under either federal or state law he would be prohibited from possessing a gun (e. g., convicted felon, unlawful user of a controlled substance, subject to a domestic restraining order, plus a bunch of other possible reasons), loaning him a gun could be a crime.

  • Are you aware of any reason why he ought not have a gun (e. g., strange behavior, particular psychiatric history, a history of poor impulse control or violent fits of temper, etc.)? If you loan your brother-in-law a gun, and he uses it inappropriately to hurt someone, you could become the subject of a civil suit seeking damages on the grounds that you were negligent giving him a gun.

  • Do you have any reason to believe that your brother-in-law can't manage a gun safely? If he hurts someone with the gun through his negligence you could be dragged in if there's any way to claim that you should have known that with a gun he would be likely to be a danger to himself or others.
__________________
"It is long been a principle of ours that one is no more armed because he has possession of a firearm than he is a musician because he owns a piano. There is no point in having a gun if you are not capable of using it skillfully." -- Jeff Cooper
Frank Ettin is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.03541 seconds with 8 queries