Seems like every search result I find gives a different answer.

I am currently on TDY orders over 90 days out of state. Private sales w/o FFL are legal here. Hoping to hit a couple gun shows and of course comb the little pawn shops and such for hidden gems. Maybe even run across a private sale I want to take advantage of.

Long gun at FFL = probably treat me as out of state, run NICS, sell over the counter. No biggie.

Pistol at FFL = ?

Private sales = ?

PCS orders over 90 days are a lot better defined, you're pretty much treated like a local. If you don't know the difference between TDY or PCS, you're probably not going to be able to help with this one.

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Psalm 27:2

It varies a bit state to state in my experience. At my last duty station basically you were SOL, in Georgia copy of your orders and ID and you are good to go to buy pistols/rifles, with the usual checks of course.

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AR15-22 Shield .40 BG 380

I agree that you are out of luck if a NICS check is required for purchase because while on TDY upyou are not a resident of the state you are temporarily in. You are a visitor, unless you have state issues ID with a photo on it. Than you might be considered a resident. That said, I am not an expert so above is my understanding from reading.

From my time BEHIND the counter:

You can buy a handgun or long gun over the counter or face to face, in your state of residence (assuming your state of residence does not have a law against face to face sales).

If you are in the military, you are considered a resident of the state you claim as your "home of record", and the state where you have PCS orders.

Example - if you live in, and have plates and a drivers license from Georgia, you can buy in Georgia. If the Army, in it's infinite wisdom, stations you (Permanent Change of Station) in Ft. Hood Texas, you are, legally for gun-buying matters, a resident of Texas, and can also buy a handgun or a long gun, over the counter or face to face, so you can buy in Texas OR Georgia.

If, while you are stationed at Ft. Hood, they TDY you to Ft. Dix New Jersey, you can't buy there. You are not a resident of New Jersey. Does not matter if you have been TDY there for a year and a half, you are not a Jersey resident because you don't have PCS orders.

You can buy a rifle or a shotgun over the counter (if Jersey allows non-residents to do that - I don't know whether they do or not), but you can't buy a pistol and you can't buy face to face. You are not a resident. You're a visitor.

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I always take precautions

I don't know where you heard the "over 90 days" thing, but it's not correct.

Military members permanently stationed in a state have all the rights and privileges of a resident of that state. Military members TDY do not.

LEGALLY you can't even buy a handgun from a private sale even if they don't require an FFL to do the transfer. Because you're not a resident, the sale would be considered an interstate sale and the gun would have to be sent back to an FFL where you live.

I'll leave the ramification of a private sale up to your best judgement.

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Freedom isn't free.

Thanks guys, pretty much what I assumed.

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Psalm 27:2

Absolutely correct, sir.

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There are some exceptions. I was stationed in Texas on PCS orders, but I had to be in-state for 90 days before could buy a handgun. I could buy a rifle immediately.