Requirements to sell a AR 15

Does anyone know what are the requirements to sell a AR-15 to a private buyer?
Thank you

Agree to a price and meeting spot, exchange firearm, carry on.

I second that! It's your gun do what you want with it!

I would make sure the buyer signs a bill of sell and take a picture of two id's just so that if something happens, it doesn come back and bit you in the rearend.
Just my .02 cent.

No problem there.

Y won't u be doing business with him? Explain your requirements

The OP posted, in the "Laws" section, that he was looking for the "requirements" to sell a gun. Isn't it safe to assume he was looking for the legal requirements, not other's made up requirements?

To the OP, don't be offended if some don't allow you to copy personal information. Some don't like having their information in the hands of strangers.

I did not make up "my requirement", this is what the state police requieres for you to show evidence that you have sold the firearm. Anything short of that you might have a harde time proving that you got rid of it.
But hey, what are the chances of something like that happening.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "require" it. Do you mean the VSP asks for it during an investigation? Because "asking" is different than "requiring." Or do they have some basis in statute or regulation? If so, please give us a citation (let me save you the trouble, it does not exist). Or are you simply being careless with your words?

A private seller who has no FFL is not required to keep any records of dispositions of firearms, either under federal or state law. Any records you choose to keep are exactly that --- a personal choice. Or, as bom1911 put it, "your requirement."

Yes you did.

I agree 100% like I said it's your gun do what you want with it. There is no laws that say an requirements or regulations for private owners to sell there weapons now if the owner decides he/she won't sell unles ids and bill of sale are completed that's is fine to but there is no law that says u have to.

Can you provide a cite to VA code identifying a seller requirement to keep a signed bill of sale and photographs of two pieces of buyer ID? If not, those are your requirements and not the law.

great idea.

can you get polaroids anymore?? that might be the way to go, wait, how about recording it with your camera.

can you define what proper paperwork is??

IMHO, proper paper work is my asking price in cash and a BOS w/ minimal PII if both parties agree to it before hand.

In VA only requirements:

Not knowingly selling to a prohibted person.
and
The seller and buyer of a firearm must be a resident of the state in which the transfer occurs for a FTF transaction.


All of this can be confirmed on VSP's webiste and or a call to VSP.
Or you can search VA LIS for laws pertaining to firearms.


What you posted isn't the law for private transactions.

"Proper paperwork" for a private sale according to VA code and/or US code? I know of no law requiring one to keep any paperwork. Do you?

I have asked the VSP and Fairfax County, and their definition of proper paperwork was bill of sale and a copy of two forms of ID. And VSP have gone as far as saying that i would need to make sure that the recipiant is qualify to buy a firearm, FX county has no mention of this.

Besides dont you have both parties address on the BOS???

My point, we can read the law and everybody has a different interpretation of it. Not even the agencies that are suppose to oversee theese laws are in agreement with eachother.

I reather take the extra step and cover my rear end then have to bend over, if you know what i mean.

[quote=Agent19
........cash and a BOS w/ minimal PII if both parties agree to it before hand.

[/quote]

What does this mean?

What does this mean? [/quote]

I believe he is referring to personal identification info.

Also, Fairfax and VSP do not make the laws and them telling you that you need to get 2 copies of DL is, quite frankly, VERY irresponsible of them. Identity theft is a reality and copies of identifying docs are the best thing the meth-head who robs your house and steals the BOS (which now gives him an idea of a house he might be able to rob where he can steal a gun) AND copies of IDs can possibly find.

If you feel like you need a document to cover yourself, get a bill of sale with Name of buyer, date of sale, serial number of gun, and City/ST of buyer - you both sign it and you both get a copy. Check that buyer's ID to make sure he is a VA resident. That's it and that will be enough for any law enforement officer that might come knocking. All that being said, NONE of that is lawfully required.

IMHO, they gave you their opinion, as I believe they are prohibted from giving legal advice on an offical level.
Next time anyone tells you it's the law ask for cite to VA code as to these requirements.

PII= Personal Identifing Information

If the buyer or seller reguest I let them verify I have a VA DL, but I cover my address, DOB and DL #.
On the BOS if requested I provide first, last, make, model, serial #, date of transaction, city of residence and cell # and ask for theirs (if you get mine I get yours).
But none of this is required under VA or Federal law for private transactions.

There are several types of BOS's floating on here. I like member "user" for his legal statement but only provide the above info.

Any State and locality can make laws overseen firearms if they see fit even if they are different from federal law.

Identity theft occurs every where. Thieves may be tring to steel our identity as we speak (type) by trying to hack into this forum or others, our online bank account, thieves may rob a gun shop as well as a your residence and steel your identity there. But identiy theft is more related with SSNs theft not with addresses and phone number.

Perhps you are right you might not need two forms of id on a private sell, and i consider Agent19 an authority on this because i know he works in gunshop but i will still fill better riquesting two ids, just because thats what i was advised to do by both VSP and Fx county.

I think we get your point. Your preference is to keep some documents because the VSP has suggested it to you. I don't see anyone trying to stop you.

My point, since you have missed it, is that the OP was looking for the legal requirements. Your preference and the legal requirements are not the same.

Here is a good reference site to read the laws. http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+TOC

Do a search for bill of sale and let us know what you find.

To answer your question about addresses on a bill of sale, no.

you have a guy you dont know offer to buy your AR

you meet him and he gives you cash, you hand over the gun, both go on their way.

A month from now the ATF shows up at your door and wants to know why an AR registered yo you was found at a crime scene in New York.

What do you tell the ATF?

If you covered your @ss you checked the ID of the buyer to make sure he was a Virginia resident. Then you got a bill of sale with his name/address.

Then you hand that bill of sale over to the ATF and tell them "go see this guy".

or you can say...."I sold it to some guy"

your choice !!!!

We did have a member here that sold a handgun here and it was found at a crime scene in NY. He got a bill of sale but lost it and couldnt help the law when they came to his home.

Well id tell them to finger print it! And then have my alibi straight. This is Va you don't have to do sh** to sell the Damb thing except meat the person use good judgement and if you want sell it then go on about your way. Not saying that it's not a bad idea to get a bos but when it comes down to it if I didn't do anything wrong with it screw the ATF. If they have evidence that you where there there will be no questions ur MY BEARD IS HUNGRY! will be going with them.

Wrong again.

Oh good, so we have some verification. So this guy that sold the gun but didn't have a bill of sale; he was charged for not keeping a bill of sale, and photographs of two pieces of ID right? What part of VA code was he charged with?

I'm not telling the OP to do, or not do anything. He can get ID, a stool sample, finger prints and a retina scan for all I care. He asked what the requirements were (in a section of the forum called "the laws". Sort of suggests he was looking for the legal requirements doesn't it???) None of those are, unless you know something I don't. If so, please provide a cite so that I can learn of these new secret laws.

This man's post is worth reading again:



Keeping records is not required.

What are preemtive laws for then.

It is required when you buy your gun at a gunshop.

Thanks for this i will check thhis out for sure.

You mean preemption, not preemptive. Virginia's preemption law keeps localities from enacting more stringent regulations than the state has, unless expressly permitted.

Code § 15.2-915 states that "No locality shall adopt ... any ordinance ... governing the purchase ... of firearms ...."

Virginia does not require record-keeping, as in zero records. No locality may require any more records than zero records.

0+0=0

I'm confident you can take it from here...

Yes, but the original question was for private sales and that's what we are all talking about.

When you buy a $1000 TV that has a 1 year warranty you are given a receipt. Its nice to have that receipt handy if the TV were to break within a year and you need to return it for repair or replacement.
No receipt and you'll be buying a new TV.


It will be nice to have that bill of sale if the law comes knocking and they tell you that a gun registered to you was found at a murder scene. I'd sleep much better that night if I had a bill of sale to hand over to them and say "go ask this guy, I sold the gun to him".

to each his own

Ok, fine, i see the light now, but bill of sell with name and adress for sure.

Some of us have answered the original question.

Another member made statements that weren't true about what the law requires. We have shown and pointed him and others in the correct direction.

What makes you or others comfortable and sleep better at night isn't a part of the equation.


No one is saying don't get a BOS.
No one is saying don't ask for a blood sample.
No one is saying don't ask for a drug test.

We are just stating it isn't required by law.

Seller is free to make whatever rules they want, but their rules may not be required by the law.

Buyer's are only obligated to meet what the law requires, they are free to accept sellers extra legal terms or move on.


Hopefully the seller is smart enough to state what hoops they want folks to jump through before hand as not to waste anyones time and money.


I can't make it any more clear for anyone to understand.



Comparing getting a reciept from a store bought TV and a private firearm sale makes very little sense.
Why not compare FFL sale to private firearm sale?

For me if I have to go the extra steps for a private FTF firearms transaction I might as well buy from an FFL holder.

if the price is right why not.
But i will still riquire a bos, if i ever sell a firearm to an individual.

To each its own

Why are you even weighing in on this discussion then?

because i can and i want too.

what is it to you, its a free world isnt it.

"A month from now the ATF shows up at your door and wants to know why an AR registered yo you was found at a crime scene in New York"

Don't mean to muddy up this thread, just a comment/question.

If a firearm is origially purchased and stays in Virginia, it's never "registered" to anyone, is it?

Likethelake,
Speaking primarily about new guns here.
My experience has been alot of people refer to the records a selling dealer keeps as "registered" because it is traceable to you. Meaning said firearm is traced back to the manufacturer, then to the distributor(if one) and on the the selling dealer. Dealer then looks it up in his records and gives Law Enforcement your information, then they knock on your door. This process would be much more difficult on used firearms because of unknown number of transfers.

I'm surprised fairfax county didn't tell you can't even take your AR-15 out of you resience. (just kidding- sort off). Not a very gun friendly gun jurisdiction.

Some of you probably remember that it took the Va. Circuit or Supreme Court back in the later 1990's to FFX to eliminate their own additional county fee (100 bucks or something) and abide the state reqt. of 45 days (instead of taking 6 or more months) on issuing CHPs.

You are correct their is no registration of firearms in the Commonwealth. Just a paper trail back to the original buyer at the place of original purchase. What the advocates of BOS are advocating is private sellers agreeing to form their own continuing paper trail. This is not REQUIRED by law despite lies to the contrary by these advocates and certain police departments. They continually repeat how you will be required or need to "have answers for law enforcement" if a gun you sell ends up at a crime scene. That is the biggest lie in the world, you NEVER have to talk to law enforcement .

Perfect example of law enforcement agencies lying to a citizen and creating imaginary law where none exists . By the way most law enforcement personnel don't know the law very well and asking them questions about law is foolhardy.

The one big rule is you shall not sell a firearm to a person you know to be prohibited from possessing a firearm. Obey that rule and you will stay out of prison. By the way...there is no magic bullet to let you know whether a person is prohibited or not. Whether a person is sane or not. A person with domestic violence convictions can still vote and may very well have a voter id. Someone failed to surrender their ccw when they were arrested on a felony warrant. The guy may have just been released from Saint Elizabeths. Often a convicted felon will have their voting rights restored but never got their firearm rights restored. You are the final arbiter of who you will sell to. Use your bs detector. In life there are no guarantees.

I've wondered why some sellers on here ask for a voter reg card, since it doesn't prove eligibility. I had a seller refuse to sell to me because I couldn't show that. He said he didn't think I could legally own a gun, even though I showed a receipt for a gun bought from a shop just two weeks before. The range I belong to accepted that as proof of my eligibility, so I wonder if I'm missing something here.

I guess the voter card shows that you were not a felon at one point.

Or got your voting rights restored, which is MUCH easier in this state than getting your gun rights restored. In fact, with some felonies it's automatic once you're done with your time and any parole.

https://commonwealth.virginia.gov/judicial-system/restoration-of-rights

Only until the government takes away our rights.... or we voluntarily give them up.

If we give up our rights voluntarily, we did not deserve them to start with.