When you get a package from overseas it may not appear to have been through US Customs. However the post office at port of entry has a customs officer that reviews the declaration,pasted outside the package. He assesses duty flags it for intensive exam or let's it pass duty free at his option. In fact a small percentage of packages are inspected. They rely on patterns, type of package, place of orgin etc to flag for inspection. They may have missed firearms but if so it was a error.
On a normal shipment the officer presented with a difficult to classify item will refer to Customs Commodity specialist . They know the product, like a firearm, and make the call, let it in or not, how much to charge.
Licensed Customs brokers tend to specialize in commoditys or have internal teams that work certain commodities. Broker and Customs go,back and forth to come up with agreement before the item is allowed to pass. Customs is going to make the strict call unless convinced otherwise. Roll marking the action is one they are likely to demand, unless it can proven not to be required.
Am not a customs broker, work on the carrier side. No pushing them for any reason other than its the best option. We hire dozens of brokers everyday depnding on which port and what kind of entry is required.
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