Every year as Christmas time rushes in, I get frantic inquiries from readers asking about

the legality of giving handguns as gifts. Most of these folks are just like me: they don't get around to their Christmas shopping until it's almost Christmas Eve. So when they run into the legal tangles surrounding firearms transfer, they don't have time to find solutions before Santa's big day.

The process can be very complicated and time-consuming, and in some particular state and local jurisdictions it is, sadly, close to being not worth the trouble. The most unfortunate thing from the Christmas-gift point of view is that the legal requirements surrounding firearms transfer make it nearly impossible to give someone a gun as a surprise. Santa can't just leave it under the tree: he'd be committing a federal crime.

First let's deal with firearms gift-giving between residents of different states. The crux of the issue is this: legally you cannot just buy a handgun, wrap it up, and send it directly to a friend or relative in another state as a Christmas present. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms hag no holiday spirit at all when it comes to firearms gifts. But there are ways to legally circumvent this general prohibition if you want to take the time and effort.

Let's suppose you live in Arizona and want to give a 22 target pistol to your father, who lives in Illinois. The first thing you would need to do is contact a licensed gun dealer close to your father's residence. Find out if the dealer would be willing to process the necessary paperwork to accomplish a legal transfer.

If the dealer in Illinois agrees to help, you would wrap up the gun and ship it to the Illinois dealer. All your father would then have to do is go to the dealer, complete the necessary federal and state forms, go through all the necessary procedures governing handgun transfers, and then--finally--take the gun home.

Obviously, all this makes it impossible to surprise your father with a nicely wrapped package under the tree--unless you were planning to be at your dad's house for the holidays. Then you could buy the gun in your home state, give it to him as a wrapped present on Christmas morning, and afterward go to the local gun shop with him to get the ownership of the pistol legally transferred from you to him. Of course, if there is a waiting period involved, your dad would have to twiddle his thumbs through the Second, Third, and Fourth days of Christmas before he could go back and actually pick up the gun.

Every year before Christmas the writer of this article ______ .

A．is asked about the legal solution of firearms transfer

B．is requested to give handguns as gifts

C．makes an investigation into handgun transfer

D．helps readers contact gun dealers