Went to a local gun shop for a private transfer and the seller flakes on me, caught at work, blah blah blah. Okay, while I"ll was waiting the store has a new handgun for sale I've been looking for. Not wanting to waste the trip to the taint of Prince William County, I want to buy it.  Hand over my VA Driver's License which has a PO Box on it and my voter ID card that has my physical address on it. Has never been an issue. Sales person goes in back to clear it with owner, says I need a secondary form of government ID. I advise them the state code was amended several years ago and that the vote ID will suffice. I offer my vehicle registration as well and they say no.  They ask me to verify my physical address through the VA DMV website. I said, sure do you have a laptop I can use, they said no, use your phone.

Meanwhile, I've sold several items on consignment there and made quite a few purchases in the past. Guess they don't need my business.  Also, the state gun check system was down supposedly due to the FBI NICS interface being offline.   In case any of you run into this asshattery, here's the relevant code that they were too lazy to lookup.

18.2-308.2:2 section C

To establish personal identification and dual resident eligibility for purposes of this subsection, a dealer shall require any prospective purchaser to present one photo-identification form issued by a governmental agency of the prospective purchaser's state of legal residence and other documentation of dual residence within the Commonwealth. The other documentation of dual residence in the Commonwealth may include (i) evidence of currently paid personal property tax or real estate tax or a current (a) lease, (b) utility or telephone bill, (c) voter registration card, (d) bank check, (e) passport, (f) automobile registration, or (g) hunting or fishing license; (ii) other current identification allowed as evidence of residency by 27 C.F.R. § 178.124 and ATF Ruling 2001-5; or (iii) other documentation of residence determined to be acceptable by the Department of Criminal Justice Services and that corroborates that the prospective purchaser currently resides in Virginia.

Why not share the shop name and location?

Sounds like Divine Intervention brother!!

Good point, AST.

Affirmative. I really don't like crapping on local businesses but the close-minded ignorance irritated me. I'll never darken their doorway ever again.

It is crap like that that keeps me from going into some of the "local" gunshops sometimes.  In this day of everything anti-gun and competing with on-line sales, you would think that local gun stores would be doing everything they could to attact and keep customers. Being delta bravo's to customers is a sure way to lose business.  smh.

I swear to God we’re our own worst enemies.

I used Blue Ridge-Blackfish for transfers until they closed, then used ESS, and we all know what happened to them.

I’m almost at the point of f*** it I have enough guns, I don’t need to deal with the BS OP went through. I’m just gonna buy ammo and train….

Thanks for the heads up OP, I won’t even waste my time with them.

Yeah, probably going to stick to online purchases for now on and do transfers through businesses like Hansohn Brothers. It well worth the ride because its a very professional, well run business and I enjoy chatting with the owner.

very true,  and it happens on both sides of the counter,    


(not saying the OP was wrong in any way)


still amazes me, as an FFL/SOT,  how some other FFL's look for ways to not do business

It sounds like when I move back to VA this summer, I’m going to have a good time finding a dealer that understands that although my military orders assign me to DC, since I’ll be residing in VA, the ATF says I can buy a firearm in VA, even though I have a TX driver’s license.

They're a bit better about that than they are about legal edge conditions for immigrants, visas, etc. I have had the VSP people call FFLs and school them on why I was legal.

by firearm do you mean handgun, or rifle/shotgun?

Both. With orders assigning me to DC, but residing in VA, the ATF considers me to be a resident of both states. I’m a permanent resident of TX, but TX allows me to put an out of state address on my driver’s license, so I’ll put my VA address on there once I move. I know most dealers are used to seeing a copy of my orders, showing that I’m assigned to the state that I’m currently living in, so I expect that will complicate things. Ironically, I’ll actually be working in VA, but for whatever reason, they like to put Washington DC on the orders for the unit address.

see if you can apply for a VA ID card,   that may help, re the FFL's since you will be here a bit,  and just make life easier

I had a customer that was a NY Resident,  living in Arlington for work, but did not want to give up his NY DL, he was able to get a VA ID card,  




I ask because I had a Col once as a customer,  wanted to buy a rifle,
he popped his Mil ID and a copy of PCS,,  that was several years out of date,

sorry Sir,   no go,

so he called and gave his wife shit for 30 minutes trying to get a fresh copy,
that she sent him and it had him stationed in DC,
nothing he had had a VA address,  
no DL, no gov't type bills (gas or water etc)  nothing,

all he could prove was he was Military,  stationed in DC, and from whatever state,  with no secondary ID for that address , so I could not run him as an out of state sale, (long gun)


he was a complete shit show,  and I said no go,  have a nice day,  after he told me I apparently had issues with Mil  and veterans,

odd, since my father served,  and my helpers at that show served,, ,(I never served)  and my helper was about ready to evict him, despite rank, from behind the tables,

fukker then tried to get his buddy to buy the rifle for him,   and I had to explain to him what a straw purchase was ,,,,,,

he was the definition of tool

It's a state requirement, since Virginia has its own background check system that predates the federal NICS system.  I even advised them if they wanted to photocopy my VA ID paperwork, as other FFLS have in the past, out of an abundance of caution, feel free to do so. If they don't want my business and choose to be ignorant on the law, I don't have to frequent their business.    Nothing about my background is not "Kosher". When the system is up and running, my background check comes back almost instantly. Like many people on this website, my bio-metric data has been recorded with local/state/federal for employment purposes.  Didn't really NEED the gun anyway, its just more to pack up when I move.  This is just another reason to leave for better environs.

If your orders say that you are stationed at "The Pentagon, Washington, DC" then both the ATF and the Virginia State Police recognize that the Pentagon is actually located in Virginia, and have notified FFLs to treat those orders as if they read "The Pentagon, Arlington, VA".

My apologies for that guy. I can't stand to see people acting like that.

I'll be a homeowner in VA (if all goes smoothly) and will likely apply for a VA ID card, so I think I should be fine, but I'm just used to things never quite working out smoothly as I bounce around the country! It's actually kind of funny that the most difficult thing I ran into was in TX, which I claim as my permanent residence. I'll just say that it's challenging to figure out with an FFL what home address to put on the forms when making a purchase...

Thanks a lot for the feedback.


Thanks, that's great to hear. The orders I've seen over the years have always said either "Unit/Organization, Pentagon, VA" or "Unit/Organization, Washington, DC." Hopefully it's still obvious that the organization is located in VA.

I hear you.

Used a kitchen-table FFL a year or two back who demanded I bring a U.S. Passport because I bought “an assault gun!” (it was a 9mm carbine).

That law had been stricken years earlier but the FFL didn’t know it!

Think he has since gone out of the business of transfers entirely (so no, not going to name him). Frustrating though.

Ha!  

Years ago I used to process these types of transfers for customers when I helped out at Shooters Paradise (during the time Phil owned the place).   Any FFL in NOVA, Fredericksburg or Norfolk should know the rules applying to .mil like the back of their hand.

Weirdest one was selling a pair of Sigs to a couple of Turkish security employed by their embassy in DC; really odd loophole for that one.

The batf supersedes everything including va requirements. Right now bats is pulling ffl for the most minor mistakes. You want to blame a ffl  for an abundance of caution,  remember it isn’t your business or livelihood on the line for  a minor mistake.  The ffl can deny the sale for any reason they want,  they can also set their own security protocols as long as they meet the minimum of the state and batf, so if they require the name and address on the driver license must match the name and address on 4473 that is allowed if they choose not to take your voter id card they can do that as well but to get upset because they wouldn’t bent to what you want is unreasonable considering it is their business on the line.

Just so you know the background system was down a few weeks ago. I no longer have the email saying when it went down and came back up.

I personally find it odd that your drivers license has a P.O. Box address and your voter card has your mailing address. I am surprised Mva  allowed you to use a P.O. Box on your drivers license, this is going to cause issues if you have to deal with the police.

PO Boxes are not unusual,

most folks have Voters Reg to show the physical address,   which is OK to use as a secondary,

If you're in NOtVA, specifically PWC, use DC Arms!  He's an Army vet now doing some kind of secret squirrel tech contracting, and he's thoroughly knowledgeable in firearms transfers, especially .mil.  He's also into the online tech for Class 3 buying.  I think his transfer fees are $20 for the first firearm then $5 for all others.

Since you bumped this thread, I'll comment. Recently made a purchase through an FFL and they didn't balk at the use of PO box listed on D/L & VA voter ID card .  Just in case, I brought a current utility bill and mortgage statement but didn't need it.  I guess this FFL read up on the VA code in the last 3 years, noting only one additional ID is required.  Like many here, I'm a capitalist and vote with my wallet.