Anyone ever moved back into USA with firearms originally taken out of USA?

abbrown

Lil-Rokslider
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Family and I are moving back to USA from overseas. When we originally moved, I took two USA-purchased hunting rifles with me. Now, I am wondering if anyone has experience/knows about bringing said firearms back into the US? Is there a difficult process to get them allowed back in? From a little research done on my end it's possible it's as easy as proving to Customs Border Patrol that they were originally obtained in the USA, but it's not super clear, so yeah just looking for advice.

Cheers.
 

ODB

WKR
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Call griffin and Howe. I know they do plenty of importing, they may have info on casss such as yours. Might be as simple as arranging the import with a dealer in Europe (or wherever you are) and G&H.
 
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I've done it, but it's been a while. Worked in Canada a couple of years and had a rifle and shotgun with me. When I came back to Alaska, the border agent didn't even blink.

That was the Yukon-Alaska border though.... If you are entering the country through a major port city airport, it might be more challenging?
 
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abbrown

abbrown

Lil-Rokslider
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To clarify: moving back from NZ, will need to be air travel or shipping.
 
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About 15 years ago I imported firearms from Canada to USA.


It was pretty painless, shoot me a PM if you have questions. You might not have to do the importation if you can show they originated in the USA, but I don’t know about that. It might be just easier to go through importation anyhow.
 
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As a dual citizen (Canada and US) my preference is to bring a US purchased shotgun back to the US to bird hunt vs one purchased in Canada. In my case they are headed back to Canada at the end of the trip so are only temporarily imported. Seems US border agents have less issues if it is a returning shotgun versus a Canadian purchase. But every agent has their interpretation of the laws so sometimes it takes a bit longer to go through than other times.

Often the rules for personal effects you own when moving are different than for something imported.

Have all your paperwork in order….original bill of sale, your export paperwork from the US, import paperwork to New Zealand, export paperwork back out of New Zealand, etc….a file for each rifle that is easily followed.

Good luck, dig as deep into the regulations on line as you can specifically to a US citizen moving back to the US.
 
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The export form you need is a customs border patrol form for 4457. I filled mine out before I left US and had them inspect & initialize them before I left. No issues when I returned.
 
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Dumb question, but if you're a US citizen, isn't it just like bringing them home from a hunting trip?

This is how they treated it for me. They had been out of country 20 months at that point, but they didn’t care.

The only paperwork I had showing that they were mine was the form from the Canadian side when I brought them in originally. I don’t even think they asked for that.

Worth a call ahead to customs at the port of entry though.

Yk
 
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abbrown

abbrown

Lil-Rokslider
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Usually just easier to leave the weapons in the country where the action was.
:ROFLMAO:
For those interested in the official answer, I got this response from Customs and Border Patrol:

"If you are a returning resident, you will need to present proof that your firearms were in your possession when you moved out of the United States. Proof could be a CBP Form 4457, sales receipt, insurance papers or a household inventory showing the serial number that was prepared when you moved out of the United States. Members of the military may import firearms directly, but they must obtain a permit from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) first. You can also use an FFL."

Seems a few of you were spot on, thanks.
 
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