My Father has a handgun that he would like to give to me as a gift. The problem is that he lives in Illinois and I am in Indiana. What is the process for this or can he just hand it over to me?
The proper way to go about it is for him to take you and the firearm to an FFL here in Indiana and have it transferred to you. It's also possible for him to ship it from an FFL in Illinois to an FFL here and you do the transfer then.
I don't know what nonsense Illinois state law has about transfers, but federally speaking your father could ship it directly to a FFL in Indiana who would then transfer it to you. You would need to find an FFL willing to accept it and pay his fees for the transfer. Your father would need to find a shipper for it. US Postal Service will not ship handguns, but FEDEX and UPS will. He would need to contact one of them to get shipping requirements, e.g. packaging, acceptable shipping method (overnight for FEDEX), and a location that would accept the package for shipping (you can't just drop it off at any old Fedex or UPS drop). I recently went through this shipping a handgun from Texas to a buddy in Miami. It was tedious getting the right info out of Fedex (a lot of their call agents don't know how to handle handguns).
If your dad can come over and transfer it to you in person at an Indiana FFL like HKUSP suggested, that's probably simpler (and more fun).
If you used to live in Illinois and he gave to you back then, but you forgot to bring it home to Indiana, just go back over there and pick it up. Problem solved.
If it's a newer gun that was introduced to market after you moved to Indiana, just borrow it.
Thank you for all of the suggestions.
He will be here in a few weeks so I will have him bring it with him. I thought I read somewhere that it had to be shipped to the FFL due to it coming from another state. And it is a newer gun.
thanks again
Dad retired to Texas. He often bought guns that he left at my house for me to sight in for him. He passed away in 2000, his guns are still at my house......