Maintaining Florida residency while cruising

[The Sun King]

A nephew of mine is a Florida native and owns a home and numerous real estate properties in his home county. He has mail delivered to his home, which is handled by his next door neighbor, his mom. For some years now he has worked overseas. On a recent visit home, during hunting season, he went to the sporting goods store to buy a new gun and was told he couldn't because he was "not a Florida resident." I suspect the Feds keeping track of his passport activity put the block on the sale. Apparently having a home address does not satisfy everybody as to your residence status.

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by The Sun King

A nephew of mine is a Florida native and owns a home and numerous real estate properties in his home county. He has mail delivered to his home, which is handled by his next door neighbor, his mom. For some years now he has worked overseas. On a recent visit home, during hunting season, he went to the sporting goods store to buy a new gun and was told he couldn't because he was "not a Florida resident." I suspect the Feds keeping track of his passport activity put the block on the sale. Apparently having a home address does not satisfy everybody as to your residence status.

Residency is a defined term that differs depending on the specific law and issue. And yes, gun permits would be yet another example. Boating, driving, voting, taxation, hunting, fishing, and add Covid-19 travel and quarantine regulations to the list, etc., etc.

One has to determine for what subject matter residency is a factor and then research the laws and regulations applicable to such for the jurisdiction(s).

Residency is seldom what one thinks it to be.

[Davy J]

On a recent visit home, during hunting season, he went to the sporting goods store to buy a new gun and was told he couldn't because he was "not a Florida resident."

Seems that there would be more details to this story...........

Per the FDLE website, Non-residents cannot purchase a handgun. However, non residents can purchase a long gun, like what would be used for hunting.

Maybe he did not maintain his drivers license or answered some question incorrectly on form 4473 ??

Plus, there is no "waiting period" to become a florida resident, it would seem that once you have an address and a DL, you are now a resident.......

In addition, if you have a Florida CC permit, there isn't even an address listed on it.

[Gerrit Coetzee]

Originally Posted by Davy J

Haven't done it because I maintain a residence year round even if I'm out for months. So hopefully someone with first hand experience will chime in.

But I think that most people use a mail forwarding service like St Brendan's Isle.

https://www.sbimailservice.com/

Click on the link to "Cruisers Home Port"

They give you a street address, you register to vote in that county and I also think they have you use the address for your DL.

Things may have changed some though, I seem to remember there was a push by some FL legislators to remove your voting privilege if you didn't actually reside in the county.

Thank you.
Food for thought