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One of my friends is going to California, Georgia and Massachussets while in the US from mid-July to the end of August this year. She's an Irish citizen and 20 years old. She wants to get the experience of a handgun as she's never touched one let alone used any before in her life.
I'm not American and don't live there so I have no clue about gun laws though I do believe that they vary by state. I've seen conflicting info on Google from other forums about whether they can or can't but I just want to clarify here.
Tourists are prohibited by federal law from buying firearms.
Tourists are not prohibited from renting firearms and shooting them at a range.
CA and MA are not gun owner friendly states, so I don't know how many range/rental locations they will have. Georgia has a lot of them. She will need to google the areas she is going to be in and see what they have. Also, since you need to be 21 years old to purchase a handgun, some ranges will not rent handguns to anyone less than 21 years of age.
Try Googling shooting ranges near the cities you'll be visiting & give them a call or email and find out their requirements. It seems like we had to produce some ID when we went to the range near our house in California because at first we rented handguns to use. Later when we had our own guns we didn't need to.
Also, try to go during less busy times if you have no experience with guns. Maybe see if you can get some one on one time with someone. You don't want any close calls!
Come to Billings, MT. Go to "Three Sights Shooting Range" on Moore Lane.
There, you can rent and shoot many different guns. Revolvers, semi-automatic hand guns, rifles, Etc.
If you wish, and can afford it, you can even rent a fully automatic sub-machine gun! There is something about rippling off a 30 round magazine in a matter of seconds....
While they do have guns for sale, the buyer MUST be in full compliance with all State and Federal laws regarding gun purchases.
The bottom line is, a non-resident can borrow or rent a firearm, and shoot it, no problem.
In fact, your friend can PM me, and if she comes to MT I will take her out to an open shooting range on public land and let her shoot various types and calibers of pistols and rifles. I might even borrow an AR-15 for her to shoot!
Of course, she must buy her own ammunition...
One of my friends is going to California, Georgia and Massachussets while in the US from mid-July to the end of August this year. She's an Irish citizen and 20 years old. She wants to get the experience of a handgun as she's never touched one let alone used any before in her life.
I'm not American and don't live there so I have no clue about gun laws though I do believe that they vary by state. I've seen conflicting info on Google from other forums about whether they can or can't but I just want to clarify here.
In Florida and Georgia, I know it is allowed. I'm not sure about other States.
I can't imagine that would be a problem at most ranges, but best bet would be to check with ranges in the area she's going to be. At mine, they keep your driver's license while you're shooting, so I'm not sure how that would work if you don't have a DL. I'll call tomorrow & ask, as we're a big military town & have non citizens here all the time.
Since you say she is unfamiliar with handguns, she would also have to buy some instruction to go along with that. Some ranges have private instruction, but she would likely have to pay for that. Also, some ranges are private & you have to be a member to shoot there, others are open to the public. In areas that have easily obtainable CCW permits, you would take a class that involves approx 8 hours of instruction (I imagine the requirement varies by state) & would have range time associated with it. Those classes, in my state, are often set up as 2 day classes & that would be a good intro for your friend, however, it would also be a pretty big time commitment while on vacation.
Now that I think about it, I don't think I was a citizen when I took my first intro class...not a CCW class, just a quick introduction & opportunity to shoot a variety of firearms, however I was a legal resident & had a DL in that state.
No reputable range would allow her to shoot by herself if she's never touched a gun or should I say, no reputable range SHOULD allow her to do so. I think her age & her lack of experience would be a bigger obstacle than her citizenship, but I'm not a gun law expert by any means.
...No reputable range would allow her to shoot by herself if she's never touched a gun or should I say, no reputable range SHOULD allow her to do so. I think her age & her lack of experience would be a bigger obstacle than her citizenship, but I'm not a gun law expert by any means.
My first thought was, "Let me know when she goes because I want to be far, far away." Please, please make sure she gets some instruction on safe firearm handling, procedures, and range protocol before she even picks up a firearm.
I strongly suspect that more people are injured or killed due to unsafe handling of weapons than are due to evil people up to no good.
One of my friends is going to California, Georgia and Massachussets while in the US from mid-July to the end of August this year. She's an Irish citizen and 20 years old. She wants to get the experience of a handgun as she's never touched one let alone used any before in her life.
I'm not American and don't live there so I have no clue about gun laws though I do believe that they vary by state. I've seen conflicting info on Google from other forums about whether they can or can't but I just want to clarify here.
In New York State many (all?) gun ranges will not let you touch, handle or shoot their handguns unless you have a valid pistol permit. Any inexperienced shooter must also be accompanied by someone who's experienced. I don't know if this applies to other states too. I can't imagine California being any less anti-gun than NYS.
I don't think her being a non-citizen will be the biggest problematic issue.
The best thing for her to do is email or call the gun ranges she wishes to visit while she's here. They'll have the exact answers she's looking for.
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