Grandfather passed away, has a 38 special

[Silver131]

Hi All,

My grandfather recently passed away and owned a 38 special. His home is in RI and I live in MA, I believe the will only specified dividing his things up evenly to his three children (none have LTC).

What do I do here? Can I take possession of the Firearm and fill out the FA-10 within 7 days and I'm all set. Or (as I'm assuming) it ain't that easy? Thanks for any help

Rob

 

[Pete85]

Sorry for your loss.

I'm not 100% sure on how the law works for interstate inheritance, however possession of a firearm without an LTC/FID in MA is a crime. Since the will (supposedly) stated that everything was to be divided up between his three children (i.e. not you as you're his grandchild), I believe it would be come the legal property of one of his children as dictated in the will. That person would either need to get their license or sell the firearm to a licensed dealer to avoid any conflict with the laws, assuming they're in MA. Inheritance has been discussed before in the MA Gun Laws forum:

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/5804-MA-Gun-Laws-(Fed-amp-MA)-and-Inheritance

 

[appraiser]

Do you have a LTC B or better? ( I am assuming this is a revolver)

Are you named in the will as a beneficiary to inherit the weapon?

If you were named in the will, and you have a LTC B or better, you can bring it in on a FA-10 , filing the form within 7 days of bringing it to MA, don't fill in any sellers info

Without being named in the will and I am not a lawyer or FFL, it gets blurry. In theory IIRC you need to go through a FFL at that point. I am not advocating this,but people who have not been specifically named in the will and have acquired weapons from a family members estate have just gone the FA-10 route. The chances of being called on the carpet are pretty slim but there is always that risk.

 

[Len-2A Training]

Sorry for your loss!

You need to read the entire Inheritance thread, located in the Gun Laws forum.

Since gun is in RI (and you aren't a direct heir), it would eventually have to transfer to you thru a MA FFL. If it is not on the EOPS List, a MA FFL could not do such a transfer legally unless you could prove it was in MA prior to 10/21/1998.

 

[Silver131]

Yes I do have my Class A NR

Okay, so it looks like I will have to go through a FFL.. I'm not sure if the 38 special revolver is mass compliant so this might suck.

I was hoping that since none of the 'direct heirs' can receive the firearm, I, who hold a license to carry, should be able to inherit it

 

[appraiser]

Care to divulge what kind of gun it is?