Acelead

Hey everyone, another important update. As mentioned previously, I am having success legally buying weapons through "mom and pop" shops (translation: small gun stores more then 5 miles away from major cities). I have had no issue using my PMB license with my South Dakota Escapees address on it. NOW for the important part...... I have had multiple members message me privately asking which shop(s) I purchase weapons from and I want to be clear, I will never disclose this and neither should you!! Here's why... One of the biggest surprises in this entire process was learning how many people in both the government in Rapid, the ATF and even on this forum are "anti-gun". I have heard stories of these private party individuals and ATF employees using "sneaky" methods to seek out and find shops that don't follow the ATF requirements of a physical address. Why do you think the major chain stores in Rapid and other cities are running scared on this? There is major political pull behind these types of moves and even a few general answers to innocent questions can cause people to lose their businesses (or worse!). Therefor I HIGHLY advise anyone who has success with a gun store using your PMB ID to carefully guard which specific store that is. NOW for the good news for those of you wondering which store.... I have had success at pretty much every mom and pop gun store I've tried that is at which has been at least 5 miles outside of a major population center. The ATF stays fairly close to the large population centers and concentrates its efforts on primarily chain stores....so use Google Maps and pay attention to distances and you should be good at whatever shop you try. The worst case, you try to purchase a item and get told you need to use a physical address, just politely move on and try another shop. There is nothing wrong or illegal about purchasing a firearm with a PMB drivers license. You won't go to jail and there is no fine. The very worst thing they can say is we can't make this sale and that is their right as a business entity in a capitalist society. Be polite, don't argue and move onto the next shop. I'm sure within 2-3 shops you will find one that will complete the transaction.

Hey everyone, if it's not apparent I am the OP (original poster) for this thread. I want to first say thank you so much to everyone (including the negative people) who take the time out of their busy day to reply. Although I am busy and unable to reply to each comment, I still monitor this thread and every reply to it. I'm taking detailed notes and am hoping to find a solution to this problem. I've been talking to multiple individuals in various organizations in Rapid and around the country. I hope to have something soon (see below for the update on how I'm purchasing firearms). One of the reason I'm replying now is I REALLY don't want this thread to dissolve into anti and pro 2nd amendment arguments. We are a community of nomads which by its very nature means we are all a little different. We all "buck" the system in varying degrees but we all came here because of that little nagging thought in the back of our minds, that told us there was something better then the "9-5" one location lifestyle the "normies" are stuck with. That means no matter how much we may disagree with each other, we are one big family. So although I'm sure we all feel VERY strongly on this topic, I really want to keep this thread clean and only discuss ways to legally purchase firearms. I want this to be a helpful guide for future RVers if they feel the need to use it. So with that being said, even months or years from now, if you feel you have something helpful to add to this thread PLEASE do so. I and many others will be monitoring it closely. With that out of the way....here is my most recent update on purchasing a firearm. I completely gave up on the corporate "big chain" stores and even gave up on Rapid itself, as apparently the ATF is watching the primary cities closely. Instead I went out to a smaller town in the outskirts of South Dakota (exactly where and which one I will obviously not mention here). I have since been able to make multiple purchases and transfers successfully with no issues whatsoever, JUST using my state issued ID WITH the PMB on it. So as of now, avoid any gun stores in Rapid and go for the small mom and pop locations elsewhere in SD....and you should be fine. Now for the bad news....... I have STILL not been able to get a CCW. I went into the office in Rapid but the lovely (not sarcastically) woman behind the counter told me I needed to have a land deed or rental agreement as proof of my "physical" location. I am currently working on renting a single room for a reasonable rate from someone in South Dakota to use as proof of location, at which point I will try again. I will update accordingly once that happens. Best of luck to everyone!

Thanks everyone for replying, I learned a few things! My "ID" is a South Dakota Drivers license which I just got within the last 30 days and it DOES have a "PMB" in front of my Escapees "box" number. I do NOT have a CCW as per my explanation in the original post. I agree with the comments about the lawsuit, this seems like a ripe example of "shall not be infringed". If I (or anyone else) passes the federal background check it seems ridiculous that you need to provide an additional address when the one from my license was accepted by the feds. On top of that, I don't want ANY address associated with my guns purposes. With the direction our politics are going, there is no way that list won't be abused in the future. To recap, based on the comments it seems the best option is to try a few local "mom and pop" type gun stores who are hopefully being ignored by the ATF. I was told by the woman at the CCW counter that I could show a land deed which would be enough to apply for a CCW (which based on SD law is shall issue). You can legally buy an acre (or more if you are lucky) of land for less then $500 if you shop carefully. Based on what I see here, thats the route I'm going to take. With that being said, I will be monitoring this thread so if anyone else in the future has any ideas PLEASE let me know. Again, thanks for taking the time to respond! P.S. I was told by the woman at the Drivers License station that the TEXAS address for Escapees does NOT put the "PMB" on the license (its not legally required). It seems this entire issue can be avoided if South Dakota didn't require the "PMB" on the license.

I attempted to purchase at Scheel's, Cabelas and Runnings, all within the last 48 hours. All refused to accept the PMB. None of the other smaller local shops had the pistol I wanted in stock so I have not tested whether or not they care. Do you know why the State of South Dakota doesn't accept PMB addresses for Concealed Carry permits then? Thats a HUGE problem, especially for us Escapees members who travel a lot. Reciprocity will literally keep us out of jail in this case, regardless of the fact that SD is now no permit required for concealed in state carry.

I am looking for some feedback from other Escapees members who are using South Dakota as their physical address in regards to purchasing firearms. I was recently denied the ability to purchase a handgun because my ID said "PMB" aka personal mailbox (I passed everything else including the federal background check which used my same SD PMB address thats on my SD drivers license). It seems insane to me that I can be denied even though I passed the federal form using the SAME ADDRESS they don't like on my ID. I went down to the Treasury and confirmed that they do not allow gun purchases unless you can prove a PHYSICAL address (and that goes for concealed carry permit for reciprocity in other states). I also swung by the Drivers Licensing office in Rapid and asked one of the ladies on staff (of 8 years with plenty of claimed experience with Escapees members) who said that Escapees is NOT a legal physical address and therefor she could not legally remove the PMB on my license (which wouldve solved the problem). So basically from my research today I can't purchase a firearm, I cannot obtain a concealed carry permit and I actually legally can't claim my Escapees SD address is a physical address. So my question is....how are we (South Dakota escapees members with no physical address) supposed to purchase firearms in South Dakota given this info? Any feedback/thoughts/etc would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance for your time! P.S. I read through the forum before posting this and saw previous posts regarding how some smaller gun dealers choose to "overlook" the PMB and although I'm sure I could find someone who could hook me up, I'm far more interested in why our "legal" physical address is apparently not a legal physical address. I'd like to figure out how to purchase firearms without worrying about whether or not the store will allow me to.