this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2026
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Those are not currently requisites for owning a gun or rifle in the US ?
Nope. Because of loopholes like private sales, someone can privately purchase a firearm from another person with basically nothing more than a look in the eye, a firm handshake and an exchange of money.
To purchase from a gun store there are rules and regulations that apply, and a very simple background check but really it doesn't take much, and with enough money most processes can be "sped up"
There are so many conditions on private sale that this answer is essentially incorrect. The vast majority of Americans live in a state that either requires that private sales go through an FFL (The federal firearm dealer license) or has other background check requirements with failure penalties on the seller severe enough that you'd want to protect yourself by going through an FFL anyway. And private sale across state lines is federally illegal, eg someone in Missouri can't do a private sale to someone from Oregon. And you cannot "speed up" a federal background check with money, the check is not run by the FFL themselves, they're just a trustworthy party that submits your paperwork to the feds. The wait time is entirely dependent on federal backlog and one's law enforcement records.
Law firm site with a list of private sale laws per state: https://www.findlaw.com/consumer/consumer-transactions/private-gun-sale-laws-by-state.html
I have an anecdote, albeit a little old. Circa 2010 I was living in the US (WI). Traded an old bar fridge I didn't need to a friend for a 30-06 rifle. It was the first firearm I owned while living there. I then went to my local police and asked if there was any kind of registration process I should go through and they said nope, we don't care. Not saying you're wrong, just one experience I had.
When I bought a shotgun from a store after that I did have to wait 3 days, I presumed at the time because I wasn't a citizen.
Your anecdote checks out, Wisconsinites are among the minority of Americans with no additional private sale requirements.
Your 3 day background check wait probably wasn't all because you're a non-citizen, that's a fairly typical wait time. Mine have all been less than 48 hours though, presumably cause on paper I'm a god damned boy scout.
That’s not true at all. Every gun has a serial number and when you transfer ownership you need to transfer the serial number to your name. Just like a title on a car.
That's not true at all. Under federal law, you can build your own firearm, and you don't ever need to serialize it. If you transfer it, you just hand it off.
Individual states may implement additional restrictions.
Thats often taught to buyers/sellers so they can kinda have a paper trail if confronted about a crime with a serial last linked to them.