20 yrs old and frustrated

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jslackin

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Okay so here is where i stand. I am active duty air force stationed in arizona. I am 20 years old and desire to own and carry a handgun. My family/friends are from Indiana. How can I possibly obtain a one?

-Could I have it purchased in Indiana\Arizona and Given to me?
-Could I buy it myself in Indiana\Arizona?
-If i obtain it in Indiana can I bring it to Arizona and Carry here or could i just Store it in the Armory on base?

Just throwing those out there as ideas as to how to work around whatever system is preventing me from owning/carrying. I can carry in the desert, and will I am M9 certified. But I would like to do the same here considering it is more likely to get shot here than there at my position.:mad::mad::mad:
 
It is one of the great inanities of our stooopid government that a young man can be old enough to go to war but not considered mature enough to purchase/own a handgun. I fear that technically you are just stuck until your 21st birthday though if someone were to give you a handgun you probably could carry it openly in AZ without being challenged.
I'm sorry that you are being subjected to a restriction on your rights and freedoms but THANK YOU for your service to our nation-flawed though it is.
 
Yes I have friends in AZ that would give me/ purchase a handgun for me. And as for me serving it is a pleasure to do what I can for the greatest country in the world.
 
Okay so here is where i stand. I am active duty air force stationed in arizona. I am 20 years old and desire to own and carry a handgun. My family/friends are from Indiana. How can I possibly obtain a one?
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Pretty stupid isn't it? You're old enough to kill and die for your country, in actual COMBAT with an actual (gulp!) GUN. Yet you're not old enough to drink alcohol or own a handgun. Yep, that's governmental logic.
 
I understand what everyone is saying and it is unbelievably frustrating. However being as I cannot change any of it. Could we please stick to the topic of me owning/carrying a handgun. I can purchase in both Indiana and Arizona but can I legally carry in Arizona? I would need to store it in Arizona as well.
 
-Could I have it purchased in Indiana\Arizona and Given to me?
-Could I buy it myself in Indiana\Arizona?
-If i obtain it in Indiana can I bring it to Arizona and Carry here or could i just Store it in the Armory on base?
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Basically here are the legal ways for you to obtain and own your own handgun:

Anybody who is a same state resident as you can give you the handgun as a GIFT. In order for the handgun to be a gift, they must purchase the handgun with their own money. They fill out the 4473, they take possession of the handgun, they give it to you with no money changing hands from you to them for the handgun.

Now, your state of residence is #1 definitely Arizona because of your active duty military ID and permanent orders to Arizona. #2 your state of residence (for the purposes of firearms) might be Indiana as well, IF you maintain an actual, physical address in Indiana that you actually inhabit for part of the year. During the time that you inhabit that address, you are a resident of Indiana. You are NOT a resident of Indiana just because your home of record is Indiana and you might have an Indiana driver's license.

You can buy the handgun in a private sale from a private party who is a same state resident as you. An Arizona resident definitely applies because of state residency explained above.

IF you are an Indiana resident, you can obtain the handgun in Indiana either as a gift or in a private sale and then bring that handgun to Arizona. If you are NOT an Indiana resident, you cannot obtain that handgun in Indiana - it would have to be shipped or delivered to an FFL in Arizona who would then NOT be able to transfer it to you, because it is illegal for you to obtain a handgun from an FFL until you are 21.

If you are NOT an Indiana, not even your parents can gift you (as a resident of Arizona) a handgun. They must ship it to an Arizona FFL.

Don't know about storing you gun in the Armory, that is entirely up to base policy and regulations.

It's all in 18 USC 922 - http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00000922----000-.html

Arizona state law and Indiana state law, according to www.opencarry.org do not have laws restricting possession or private party transfers of handguns by 18 to 20 year olds.
 
That is great news. How do I find a private party to sell me one? If I can't store it in the armory I can store it in a safety deposit box, or a friends house.
 
Sporting goods sections of classifieds in the newspaper. The buy/sell/trade section here on this forum. Buy/sell/trade section of other gun related forums. Possibly bulletin boards of gun clubs. Gun shows so long as the seller is a private party and not a licensed dealer.
 
Beware of the Straw Purchase--buying a gun for a friend is illegal (if it is illegal for that friend to have a gun). You're older than 18, so you can have a [hand]gun, you just can't buy/transfer one through a dealer. What you can do is have your friend buy the gun, and then you buy it from your friend in a private transaction.
 
My son (19-years) was in the same position as you. He is active duty as an MP in the Marines. This means that he carries a sidearm all the time and has a large pick of weapons from the armory depending on his required duty.

He came home this past Christmas and wanted to purchase a SA 1911 for his personal use... I had to buy it for him and gift it to him. Another crazy twist is that here in the state of Indiana, he can open or CC his new sidearm because of his active duty status. So he can't buy a handgun or the ammo, but he can open carry one without a LCTH. This is madness!

He does have to keep it here in Indiana because he does not know where he will end up during his time in service.
 
Thats really cool the 1911 is what i am looking to purchase actually. Where at in Indiana is he from? I am from the Fort Wayne area. The majority of my friends are 21+ in both Indiana and Arizona. So I could do the purchase through them, like described. But it seems easier to just purchase from a private dealer. being as I am not that familiar with the internal components of a fire arm where could I have it inspected? Or would i just have to educate myself?
 
jslackin said:
being as I am not that familiar with the internal components of a fire arm where could I have it inspected? Or would i just have to educate myself?
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Firearms aren't that difficult to understand, really. At least, not in how/why they work. Understanding why they don't work, or don't work well...that's more difficult.

If you buy a gun, a function check (cycle the action, work the trigger) should tell you if something is badly wrong with it (like, the hammer doesn't stay cocked, or the magazine doesn't pop out when you press the release, or the slide doesn't lock back on an empty magazine, etc).

It is possible to educate yourself about how firearms work and how to repair them, though, with time and patience...
 
Beware of the Straw Purchase--buying a gun for a friend is illegal (if it is illegal for that friend to have a gun). You're older than 18, so you can have a [hand]gun, you just can't buy/transfer one through a dealer. What you can do is have your friend buy the gun, and then you buy it from your friend in a private transaction.
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So I could do the purchase through them, like described.
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NO YOU CAN'T. The legality of the person subsequently receiving the firearm has NOTHING to do with straw purchase. If someone purchases the firearm on behalf of another person, regardless of the legality of the second person, it is a straw purchase.

A firearm can only be sold privately from the private collection of the owner.
 
Okay LT so what you are saying is. The purchaser of the firearm (my friend) would purchase with his own money. Add the firearm to his collection, and then i could purchase that firearm from him privately. And that would be defined as a legal transaction.
 
Well I'm not advocating that the OP's friend buy a gun and then turn around and sell it to the OP. Perhaps the OP's friend could buy a gun for himself, put a bunch of rounds through it, decide he doesn't want it, and sells it to the OP a few days or weeks later. In that scenario, it wouldn't be a straw purchase, would it?
 
Navylt is correct about the straw purchase matter and that is why I said that technically you were stuck--though ,happily someone else clarified that a private saleand handgun ownership is legit for those over 18 in AZ. The infuriating thing about the straw purchase rules is that they only affect honest people who are aware of their own intent and don't want to fudge.(Or of course people who are targeted for investigation into their fudging). You could create a bit of a gray area where neither you nor a purchasing friend were necessarily doing a straw deal by telling a good friend that you would sure like to purchase a particular model or one of 2-or 3 specific models if the price was within a certain range. If your buddy then went and purchased one of those without you being present and decided he would sell it to you if you wanted it..... a BATF agent would undoubtably still call this a straw deal but without your presence at purchase and a specific promise to purchase from him by you it would be unprovable as such.

If you watch the classifieds you CAN find a private sale firearm. After it is yours there are lots of people that can help you with familiarization. If you have a firearms savvy buddy he can go along to inspect a firearm at the private sale without any problems.

The trouble with 'laws' such as these is that they encourage us all to disrespect the law because it is foolish.
 
jslackin, can't give you any advice, but would like to thank you for your service. My son is 20 and on active duty in the Air Force. I understand where you're at. Good luck.

Proud Air Force Dad.
Steve
 
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