Firearms in the Estate

Inheriting a gun may be OK — shipping it, maybe not.

What does a personal representative do when firearms are among the estate assets? Obviously, he or she must take steps to make sure that guns are not loaded, accessible to minors or to others who should not be trusted with firearms, or otherwise creating a dangerous situation.

Not so obvious is the problem of shipping a firearm. Shipping it within Florida is not the problem, but shipping a firearm across state lines triggers (pardon the pun) federal laws, one of which says that in many cases only a qualified federal firearms licensee can transport a firearm interstate. A specific permit for the shipping may be required. So if a beneficiary outside of Florida is to receive a firearm from the estate, care must be taken to do so only through “proper channels.”