Shipping a gun back to S&W

[jamesallen]

A thing I don't understand is, FedEx now seems to have a policy that a regular person cannot ship guns through them. Shipping guns must be done via an FFL. See here:
https://www.fedex.com/en-us/shipping/how-to-ship-firearms.html

But then when I called S&W to have a gun shipped to them for warranty repair, they sent me a shipping label that I can use to ship them the gun directly from my address, where they would then send it back when they are done.
How can they send me a shipping label when I am not allowed to ship it to them myself? Did S&W not get the memo? Or did they decide to ignore it?
Their instructions say that you have to tell the FedEx employee taking your package that there's a gun in there, so presumably they would say no, we don't take those, sorry.

 

[Sevens]

If S&W creates the label, S&W is the shipper. You just happen have it in your hands. You are not shipping anything.

That package only needs to get in to the system, all the paperwork is done.

 

[peh_7]

It is true that YOU as a non-FFL cannot ship a gun. If the shipping label was generated by the FFL that the gun is going to then FedEx "should" take the shipment. I just sent a rifle to Henry for repair and had no problem dropping it off at my local FedEx point since the label came from Henry. Then the gun was returned to my home address with signature required. Hope this helps.

 

[rosewood]

Sent one several months back to S&W the same way. Stick their label on it and drop off at Fedex center. No problem.

Rosewood

 

[JackM]

Unless something changed recently, the label origin has nothing to do with it. Federal law allows a non-FFL to ship any firearm to an FFL for modification, repair, etc, and allows the FFL to ship it back to the non-FFL, no 4473 required. Handguns can’t be shipped lawfully via USPS by a non-FFL: it’s contract or common carrier only. Federal law does allow common carriers to establish their own rules, however. As an example, a UPS Store might require you to bring a firearm to a UPS distribution center.

 

[s&wchad]

Unless something changed recently...

Yes, things changed recently.
UPS and FedEx will no longer accept firearm shipments from anyone who doesn't have a pre-existing contract with them to do so. I believe these new policies started last year.

 

[LVSteve]

Yes, things changed recently.
UPS and FedEx will no longer accept firearm shipments from anyone who doesn't have a pre-existing contract with them to do so. I believe these new policies started last year.

^This. While it is still legal for Joe Public to ship via a shipper like UPS and Fedex, good luck finding one. UPS and Fedex have decided they don't want the business, and are not obliged to furnish services for us to carry on as before.

 

[paknheat]

Box it up real secure, place the shipping label on it.

Then take it to a private mail room/ shipping store. They will be able to take care of it for you.


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[s&wchad]

Box it up real secure, place the shipping label on it.

Then take it to a private mail room/ shipping store. They will be able to take care of it for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

This is very bad advice...

 

[SafeTFirst]

Sent one several months back to S&W the same way. Stick their label on it and drop off at Fedex center. No problem.

Rosewood

Ditto. No problem at all. Just followed S&W’s instructions.