How to Legally Sell a Gun: Private Sales and Dealer Rules

To legally sell a gun in the United States, you need to confirm you aren’t operating as an unlicensed dealer, verify the buyer is legally allowed to own a firearm and lives in your state, follow whatever extra steps your state requires (often a background check run through a licensed dealer), and keep a written record of the transaction. Federal law sets the minimums. States add layers on top, and the penalties for skipping steps run to years in federal prison, not just fines.

Are You a Private Seller or a Dealer?

Before anything else, figure out whether you can sell without a Federal Firearms License at all. Federal law requires anyone “engaged in the business” of dealing firearms to hold an FFL. Occasional sales from your personal collection don’t require one. Repeatedly buying guns with the intent to resell them for profit does.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 lowered the threshold. The standard is now whether you intend “to predominantly earn a profit,” rather than the older “livelihood and profit” test.1Federal Register. Definition of Engaged in the Business as a Dealer in Firearms There’s no set number of guns that triggers the rule. Behaviors that raise a red flag include flipping guns quickly after purchase, reselling new-in-box firearms within a year, and advertising yourself as a source for more.2Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Definition of Engaged in the Business as a Dealer in Firearms

If you’re clearing out a few firearms you’ve owned personally, you’re a private seller and the rest of this article applies. If your activity looks anything like a business, talk to a firearms attorney before your next sale.

Who You Cannot Sell To

Selling to someone you know or have reasonable cause to believe falls into a federally prohibited category is a federal crime. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), the prohibited categories include:3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 922 – Unlawful Acts

  • Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison, whether or not they served time.
  • Fugitives from justice.
  • Current users of, or people addicted to, controlled substances.
  • Anyone a court has found to be a danger due to mental illness, or who has been involuntarily committed.
  • Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, or subject to a qualifying domestic violence restraining order.
  • Anyone dishonorably discharged from the military.
  • People unlawfully in the United States, and most people admitted under nonimmigrant visas.
  • Former U.S. citizens who have renounced their citizenship.

The domestic violence category catches sellers off guard. The buyer doesn’t need a conviction literally labeled “domestic violence” — any misdemeanor involving physical force or a deadly weapon against a spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, co-parent, or dating partner qualifies. A conviction involving a dating partner can lose its prohibiting effect after five years under specific conditions, but that exception doesn’t reach convictions where the victim was a spouse, co-parent, or cohabitant.4Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Misdemeanor Crimes of Domestic Violence Prohibitions

Age Requirements

Federal law sets minimum ages that depend on both the firearm and the seller. A licensed dealer cannot sell a handgun or handgun ammunition to anyone under 21, or a rifle or shotgun to anyone under 18. Federal law does not set a minimum age for private sales of long guns, but many states impose their own age floors. Check your state before selling to anyone under 21.

Handling the Private Sale

Once you’ve confirmed you can sell privately and know who you can’t sell to, the transaction itself has four practical parts.

Verify the Buyer’s ID and Residency

Ask for a government-issued photo ID. A driver’s license or state ID confirms both age and in-state residency, which are the two things federal law cares about for a private sale. You aren’t required to run a background check as a private seller under federal law, but you are required to refuse the sale if you know or reasonably suspect the buyer is prohibited. If the buyer is evasive, wants an unusual payment arrangement, or seems to be buying on someone else’s behalf, walk away.

One thing you cannot do as a private seller: check whether a firearm has been reported stolen through the National Crime Information Center database. That access was extended to licensed dealers only.5Federal Register. Bipartisan Safer Communities Act – Access to Records of Stolen Firearms in the National Crime Information Center If you acquired the firearm secondhand and aren’t sure of its history, selling through an FFL who can run that check is safer.

Check Whether Your State Requires a Background Check

More than 20 states require background checks on all firearm sales, including private ones. In those states, you and the buyer must meet at a licensed dealer, who runs the buyer through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System using ATF Form 4473 before the transfer can happen.6Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Firearms Transaction Record – ATF Form 4473 Dealers charge for this service, typically $20 to $75. Skipping this step in a state that requires it is a crime even if the buyer would have passed the check.

Write a Bill of Sale

Federal law doesn’t require one. Skip it anyway and you have no proof of when the gun left your hands if it ever turns up in a criminal investigation. A workable bill of sale includes:

  • The date of the transaction.
  • Full names and addresses of buyer and seller.
  • Make, model, caliber, and serial number of the firearm.
  • Purchase price.
  • A statement from the buyer that they are legally eligible to possess a firearm.
  • Both signatures.

Keep your copy indefinitely. Photocopying the buyer’s ID isn’t legally required federally, but many sellers do it.

Payment

Cash, personal checks, cashier’s checks, and money orders are the standard options. Major electronic payment platforms prohibit firearm transactions. PayPal’s acceptable use policy bans transactions involving firearms, ammunition, and certain parts or accessories.7PayPal. Acceptable Use Policy Venmo follows the same rule, and most other apps do too. Using a prohibited platform can freeze both accounts.

Selling Through a Licensed Dealer

Handing the sale to an FFL is the simplest option for legal compliance, and it’s the only option in states that require background checks on all sales. You have two paths.

Selling outright means the dealer buys the firearm from you at wholesale and pays you on the spot. You’ll get less than market value. On consignment, the dealer displays and sells the firearm on your behalf, taking a commission (often 20% to 30%) when it sells. Consignment usually nets more money but takes longer.

Either way, once the dealer takes possession, they log the firearm into their records and handle background checks for future buyers. The compliance burden shifts to them at that point. That’s especially useful if you’ve inherited a collection and aren’t certain about the legal status of every piece.

If the Buyer Lives in Another State

You cannot hand a firearm directly to an out-of-state buyer. Federal law flatly prohibits private individuals from transferring a firearm to someone they know or have reason to believe resides in a different state. The only legal route is shipping the firearm to an FFL in the buyer’s state, where the buyer completes Form 4473 and passes a NICS check before taking possession.8Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Federal Firearms Licensee Quick Reference and Best Practices Guide

There’s one narrow exception. A licensed dealer may sell a completed rifle or shotgun over the counter to a buyer from another state as long as both states’ laws are satisfied and the transfer happens in person. The exception does not cover handguns, frames, or receivers.

Shipping a Firearm

If your sale requires shipping to a dealer, the rules differ by carrier and firearm type.

Private individuals can mail unloaded rifles and shotguns through USPS using a service that provides tracking and signature at delivery, with no exterior markings indicating a firearm is inside. USPS treats handguns as nonmailable for private individuals; only licensed dealers, manufacturers, importers, and certain government officials can mail handguns through the postal service.9Postal Explorer. 432 Mailability

UPS accepts firearms only from licensed dealers, manufacturers, importers, or collectors operating under a UPS agreement, and handguns must ship via Next Day Air.10UPS. How to Ship Firearms FedEx has similar restrictions. For a private seller shipping a handgun, that means bringing it to an FFL who can ship under their license.

State Rules That Add Steps

State law varies widely and can significantly reshape the process above. The most common additions:

  • Universal background checks. Over 20 states require all firearm transfers, including private sales, to run through an FFL for a NICS check.
  • Waiting periods. Some states impose a delay of 3 to 30 days between purchase and delivery depending on the state and firearm type. You cannot hand over the gun until the period expires.
  • Permits to purchase. A handful of states require the buyer to present a state-issued permit before acquiring a firearm. Don’t transfer the gun until you’ve seen a valid, unexpired permit.
  • Assault weapon and magazine restrictions. Several states restrict or ban sales of certain semi-automatic firearms and magazines above a specified capacity, regardless of federal legality.
  • Extreme risk protection orders. More than 20 states and the District of Columbia allow courts to temporarily bar a person from possessing firearms. Someone under an active order would fail a NICS check, but in a private sale without one, you’d have no way to know.

Registration requirements, safe storage mandates, and local ordinances can add still more. Your state attorney general’s office or a local FFL is the best source for current rules where you live.

Penalties for Getting It Wrong

Federal firearm violations carry prison time, not just fines.

  • Selling without a license when you should have one: willful violations can bring up to five years in federal prison.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 924 – Penalties
  • Selling to a prohibited person when you knew or had reasonable cause to believe they were prohibited: up to 10 years in federal prison.
  • Straw purchases (buying a firearm on someone else’s behalf, or helping someone do so): up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine under the Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act. If the firearm is later used in a felony, terrorism, or drug trafficking, the sentence rises to 25 years.12Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Don’t Lie for the Other Guy

State penalties stack on top. Even where charges don’t follow, selling a firearm without documentation leaves you exposed if that gun ever surfaces in an investigation.

Taxes on the Sale

Selling a personal firearm is treated like selling any other personal property. If you sell for more than you paid, the profit is a taxable capital gain. If you sell for less than you paid, you cannot deduct the loss, because losses on personal-use property aren’t deductible.13Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses

If you’re paid through a third-party payment platform, payment processors must report your transactions to the IRS when gross payments exceed $20,000 and transactions exceed 200 in a calendar year.14Internal Revenue Service. IRS Issues FAQs on Form 1099-K Threshold Under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill; Dollar Limit Reverts to $20,000 Receiving a 1099-K doesn’t automatically mean you owe tax. You’ll need to report the transactions and show your cost basis to avoid paying tax on money that wasn’t profit. Keep the original purchase receipts for any firearm you sell.