Hi folks,

Going to be selling some of my guns. Not a 100% on how to in NC. Was a longtime California resident and everything had go be done at a FFL as Private party transfer.

What’s the set up here in our beautiful state?

Thanks in advance.

Legally, you can only sell directly to someone if they are a state resident and are not prohibited from purchasing a firearm. IIRC per federal law, handguns can only be sold to someone 18 or over.

Prior to last year, either a pistol purchase permit or concealed handgun permit was required for someone to buy a handgun either from a dealer or a private seller. That law has changed, but many websites still reflect the old information.

Thanks for the info, will ask at the LGS next time I’m in for something. Don’t want to make a mistake.

Be very careful with info from any LGS. A lot of them have wrong info, or at the least do not understand what’s legal and what’s not.

Verify everything.

The biggest mistake you can make is asking someone at the local shops because, in most cases, they are going to feed you a line of BS, depending on who you talk to in the shop and what their personal belief is that day.

With the abolishment of the handgun permit system in NC, the rules default to federal requirements.  Federal laws state, you must not have a reason to believe the purchaser or transferee does not permanently reside in the state, and you must not have reason to believe they are prohibited from possessing a firearm.  You can sell a handgun or a long gun to an 18+ year old.  There is a 21+ year old requirement for handguns, but that applies to FFL holders.

You are not required to do a background check, or a bill of sale, or anything else.  If you meet with someone and you think they are a resident of NC, and you have no reason to believe they are prohibited from possessing a firearm, then you can legally sell them a firearm.  Even if they are prohibited, and you have no way of knowing it, they will be held liable, not you.  They have broken the law, because they are the ones that know which state they are a resident of, and they know whether or not they are prohibited from possessing firearms.  Most states follow the same principle.  It is the true definition of practicing your second amendment rights.

I will give you some examples of illegal activity.

Your cousin from California, or any other state, visits you here and asks to buy a firearm from you.  If you transfer it to him, that is illegal because he is not a resident of NC.  This does not preclude you from selling or gifting it to him, but you must transfer it to an FFL in his state.

You know that your cousin just finished serving time in prison, in NC or any other state, and asks to buy or obtain a firearm from you.  If you sell or in any way transfer it to him, that is illegal because you know he served time and is now a felon or otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Your 16 year old cousin asks to buy a firearm from you.  That is illegal because you know he is not at least 18 years of age.

If you are truly scared, you can ask the buyer to meet you at the local FFL, where they can do paperwork, and you or they pay the FFL a fee for performing the NICS check.  If you are just kind of scared, you can ask the buyer if they have a NC license or ID and Concealed Handgun Permit that you can look at, or copy.

thanks for the info, now the comments in the NC for sale listings make sense.
much appreciated!

All of this. However a lot of people will pass if you insist on meeting at an FFL. Unfortunately I’m one of those people. Unless it’s a great deal or some rare gun I’ll thank you for your time. I’m very quick and to the point with it.

Meet in Walmart parking lot
Verify you have the G19 or 320
Hand you your $500
We drive our separate ways.

I’m more than willing to sign a bill of sale or produce ID and CHP though. Just not likely to pay for an ffl transfer and waste time doing a 4473.

Some people would crack me up because they would only sell by going through an FFL.  They claimed they were getting it "out of their name" by doing so.  Guess what, if that person that you sold it to, sold it to someone else, it is still "in your name" because the cops are going to ask the manufacturer where it went when it left their facility.  It went to the distributor.  They ask the distributor which gun shop it went to.  They ask the gun shop who bought it.  Guess what, that is always going to be you.  Then they are going to contact you and ask what you did with it.  You can say I legally sold that firearm, or you can say I turned it over to an FFL to transfer it to someone else.  In either case, unless they can prove you knowingly sold to a prohibited person, you are in the clear.

There is no way for that trace to skip the manufacturer, distributor, gun shop/FFL, transfer to you chain, and wind up straight at the second FFL that you used to transfer it to that second person.

People think the 4473 is a “registration” man. They don’t understand there has to be a trace process initiated and you’ll still get the contact.