the point is, no meeting of the minds
You are the lawyer, I'm just a business guy who has dealt with a lot of lawyers (some of my best friends, etc.). Seems to me that there was a meeting of minds before they agreed on price and buyer mailed his check, otherwise why would seller send certified funds for the full purchase price?. Absent the convolutions, that was the deal and I think it's enforceable, as of that point. All the second guessing and emails confuse the situation considerably, but the seller still reneged on the deal and it's not clear whether buyer had the right to inspect the gun before closing the transaction. If yes, and if he inspected it and told dealer he accepted the merchandise, then it's done. Seller's behaviors confused the situation because she did not seem to present the merchandise to buyer for his acceptance. Nothing here to indicate that seller had any contingent language that would allow her to back out of the deal. Buyer bought gun with S/N xxxxx, attempted to receive the gun at the Vegas show, inspected gun, tried to take possession of merchandise, seller refused to deliver as previously agreed. Advantage to buyer.
