Transferee Using Military PCS Orders

The instructions on the 4473 say:

“If the transferee/buyer is a member of the Armed Forces on active duty, his/her State of residence is the State in which his/her permanent duty station is located. If the service member is acquiring a firearm in a State where his/her permanent duty station is located, but resides in a different State, the transferee/buyer must list both his/her permanent duty station address and residence address. In these instances, the Armed Forces member must answer “Reside in city limits?” only for their residence address.”

From the ATF Q&A

An active duty military member may establish residency by presenting permanent change of station (PCS) orders and a valid military photo identification card (see ATF Ruling 2001-5). The PCS orders may be either paper or electronic, as stated in the Form 4473 instructions for item 26c, “Licensees may accept electronic PCS orders to establish residency.”

A military member claiming residency in a state in which he or she is present with the intention of making a home must demonstrate that residency to the federal firearms licensee (FFL) by presenting a valid identification document, or a combination of valid, government issued documents, to satisfy the identification document requirement.

Remember for active duty military sales you will need the following documents when the buyer is using PCS orders to establish their residency:

• Military ID, copy front and back (as this copy is pursuant to completion of a federal document, it is not an illegal copy).

• PCS orders (not travel orders or temporary orders), copy all pages.

Below are the 3 scenarios provided by the ATF explaining what the transferee/buyer must enter into the ” Current State of Residence and Address ” question on the 4473 when the transferee/buyer is using PCS orders to establish residency.

• Example 1: PCS stationed to state A, lives on base in state A

  If the transferee is a member of the Armed Forces on active duty and is acquiring a firearm in the same state as his/her permanent duty station, and he/she resides on base, the transferee will record his/her permanent duty station residence address in item 10.
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  ​In this example the transferee/buyer would answer the current state of residency and address question as follows.

  • Are you active duty military using PCS orders to establish residency? Yes

  • Do you reside in the same state as the FFL? Yes

  • Do you reside on base? Yes

• The transferee/buyer must provide their Permanent Duty Station residence address. (This is the address where they live ON base)

• Example 2: PCS stationed to state A, lives off base in state A

  If the transferee is a member of the Armed Forces on active duty and is acquiring a firearm in the same state as both his/her permanent duty station and his/her residence, the transferee should record his/her residence address in item 10. The transferee’s permanent duty station address in addition to the transferee’s current residence address is not required.
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  ​In this example the transferee/buyer would answer the current state of residency and address question as follows.

  • Are you active duty military using PCS orders to establish residency? Yes

  • Do you reside in the same state as the FFL? Yes

  • Do you reside on base? No

• The transferee/buyer must provide their current state and residence address. (This is the address where they live OFF base)

• Example 3: PCS stationed to state A, lives off base in state B

  If the transferee is a member of the Armed Forces on active duty and is acquiring a firearm in a state where his/her permanent duty station is located, but resides in a different state, the transferee must list both his/her permanent duty station address and his/her residence address.

  In this example the transferee/buyer would answer the current state of residency and address question as follows.

  • Are you active duty military using PCS orders to establish residency? Yes

  • Do you reside in the same state as the FFL? No

  • Do you reside on base? This question cannot be answered

• The transferee/buyer must provide their current state and residence address. (This is the address where they live OFF base)

• The transferee/buyer must ALSO provide their PDS address. (This is the address of the base on their PCS orders)