Buying a Gun Online: How the Transfer Works and What Your State Adds

Buying a firearm online is not a loophole and it is not complicated. The gun is sold to you, shipped to a licensed dealer near you, and handed over at that dealer's counter after the same paperwork and background check you would complete if you had picked it off their wall. The difference is choice: an online catalogue holds thousands of models where a local shop holds a few hundred. This page explains the federal process that is identical everywhere, then the layers that individual states add, so you know what to expect before you order.

Step one: choose a dealer

Every firearm we sell ships to a Federal Firearms Licensee, an FFL, that you choose. Any gun shop is one; so are many pawn shops, sporting-goods stores and home-based dealers who do transfers as a sideline. Call ahead, ask whether they accept firearms shipped from online sellers and what they charge for the transfer. Fees run from about twenty dollars to seventy-five, set by the dealer and paid to them at pickup. Name that dealer at checkout. We confirm their licence against the public ATF list and ship to their address, never to yours.

Step two: the shipment

Handguns travel by a carrier that accepts firearms; long guns can travel by ordinary ground. You receive a tracking number, and the dealer logs the gun into their bound book when it arrives. Most transfers take three to seven days from order to arrival. Ammunition, optics, magazines, holsters and parts are not firearms under federal law and ship directly to your address where state and local law allows.

Step three: the paperwork

At the dealer you complete ATF Form 4473, the federal transfer record, and show government photo identification with your current address. If the address on your licence is out of date, bring a government document such as a vehicle registration or a hunting licence that shows the current one. The dealer then runs the National Instant Criminal Background Check, either directly with the FBI or through a state point-of-contact agency, depending on the state. Most checks clear in minutes; a delay can hold the transfer for up to three business days, after which the dealer may release the firearm in most states.

Age limits

Federal law sets the minimum age to buy a handgun from a dealer at 21 and a rifle or shotgun at 18. Some states raise the long-gun age to 21, and a handful set other limits on specific types. Ammunition follows the same split: 21 for handgun ammunition, 18 for rifle and shotgun.

Residency

A handgun may only be transferred by a dealer to a resident of the state where the dealer is located. That is why a handgun you buy online must go to a dealer in your own state. Rifles and shotguns may be transferred to a resident of another state if the sale would be legal in both states, but in practice nearly everyone uses a dealer at home.

What states add

Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio, South Dakota and Montana add nothing: the federal check is the whole process. Florida requires every dealer buyer to be 21 and imposes a waiting period of three business days, or five in some counties, unless you hold a Concealed Weapon License or another exemption. Iowa lets you skip the dealer's check by showing a permit to acquire or to carry, though the permit is optional. Pennsylvania runs its own instant check alongside the federal one and requires handguns to move only through dealers. Michigan requires either the federal check or a licence to purchase and files a pistol sales record with the police. Wisconsin runs handgun checks through the state Department of Justice with a small fee. Nebraska has long issued a handgun purchase certificate through the sheriff and the rules on when it is needed changed in 2023, so ask your dealer.

Several states cap magazine capacity or restrict named rifle and pistol features. Our checkout holds every order to what may lawfully be delivered to the address you give, so a restricted item is dropped from an order into a restricted state rather than shipped and seized. The city pages summarise the rules for each state we ship to, with links to the official sources.

Waiting periods and permits

Among the states on this site, Florida is the only one with a waiting period on dealer sales. None requires a permit to buy a rifle or shotgun. Where a carry permit exists it is issued by a sheriff, a court, a state police agency or a licensing division, and the city page for your town names the office.

What can go wrong

The common problems are small. The dealer is not expecting the gun and refuses the box; call ahead. Your identification shows an old address; bring a supporting document. The check is delayed; wait the three business days. You ordered a magazine that your state caps; it will already have been removed at checkout. A gun arrives damaged; refuse the transfer, and the dealer returns it to us for replacement, which is far simpler than accepting it and shipping it back yourself.

After the transfer

Once you leave the dealer, the firearm is yours under your state's ordinary possession rules. Register it nowhere unless your state requires it, which none of ours does. Keep the invoice and the serial number somewhere other than the gun case, and read the storage guide before it goes in a drawer. If it is a first gun, the first handgun guide and the first rifle guide were written for you.

Browse the catalogue, or find your town on the city index to see who issues permits and where the nearest public range is.

General information, not legal advice. Current as of September 2026. Laws change; check the official source before you act.