HARRYM
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Good job by the gun shop to catch the illegal sale.
I'm aware that this question about what constitutes a straw purchase was settled long ago (the discount shotgun uncle/nephew case) but I have to wonder a few things...
Was the end recipient an LTC holder? If not, was he a prohibited person? What is he being charged with specifically?
I wonder how the gun shop figured it out.
Usually the straw buyer has mouth diarrhea or is clueless about guns. Or she was dumb enough having the guy hovering around her in the shop. All that stuff is easy to pick up on.
Doesn't matter ltc or not. Having the transfer structured that way is felony land and this lady was probably too stupid to do something like this without getting caught.
I'm aware - Abramski - that's why I mentioned the previous case.
My question is what he's being charged with, whether he's an LTC holder, and whether he's a prohibited person.
I don't think Frizzle was asking about him being a PP or having a LTC in regards to criminal charges, but out of curiosity. If the person was a PP and wanted a gun it makes sense that they would try getting one through a straw purchase, but if the person has a LTC not so much.
Right, sort of. I could see (since the feds consider a frame to be a firearm while MA doesn't) and LTC holder in MA having a friend in NH order a non-compliant pistol, then doing a frame transfer to MA which gets flagged and caught by the BATFE...
Or to ask someone who's moving to MA from NH to buy a non-compliant pistol before they change residence, to sell once it's legally possessed in state. Who knows if that's what happened here, probably not that, since it's easier to just do a transfer yourself.
In the Abramski case, the end buyer (not the initial purchaser) was not a prohibited person and passed his own NICS when the gun was transferred to him. The police found receipts for the check sent from the end buyer to the initial purchaser, and for FFL transfer. This was during a warrantless search of the home of the initial purchaser, and the court found that his false statement to the BATFE made a warrant unnecessary (despite investigators not knowing of the straw purchase before hand). The court conclusion (and the dissent for that matter) suggested that had the end buyer not written the check before the initial purchase, it may not have been an issue.
I'm wondering, if no purchase was made, what the end buyer is being charged with. He never took possession of the firearm - the firearm was never even purchased, so it was never in possession of the would-be initial purchaser (who would have then sold it to him).
Plenty of drug cases have gone down the toilet when a buyer paid for drugs that the dealer never had to begin with, or that the buyer never took possession of.
Unless he met with an ATF agent and there was some kind of sting, I don't see what law the would-be end buyer violated. Obviously the initial purchaser broke the law by lying on the form, even if she never took possession.
Pure hypothesis on my part, but I'm guessing the would-be end buyer either has no LTC and/or is a prohibited person, and was discovered during the investigation to be in illegal possession of a firearm in MA... Wouldn't be surprised if he was a prohibited person, as well. We'll see, I guess.
If I was going to bet money this lowell guy is a thug lyfe type.
Go digging around in US code and I'm sure you'll find something saying even the act of propositioning a straw is illegal.
I doubt it, these are usually sidebar news articles. The media doesn't care about this stuff, really.
Go into pacer after the sentencing and you'll find all the stuff there.
Where I always get confused is what if you are purchasing a firearm to be presented as a gift? Or what if you are buying a handgun " for your wife".
is this a state or federal law he broke? I suspect, since there is a new sheriff in town in DC, such crimes will NOT be pooh poohed anymore.
is this a state or federal law he broke? I suspect, since there is a new sheriff in town in DC, such crimes will NOT be pooh poohed anymore.
This case seems pretty cut and dry. Where I always get confused is what if you are purchasing a firearm to be presented as a gift? Or what if you are buying a handgun " for your wife". Isn't that technically a straw purchase?
I wonder how the gun shop figured it out.
Usually the straw buyer has mouth diarrhea or is clueless about guns. Or she was dumb enough having the guy hovering around her in the shop. All that stuff is easy to pick up on.
Anyone else think about the stupidity of the laws involved here? This is a case of two people who are likely going to wind up in prison because one of them gave the other one some money and said "hey, can you go buy me a piece of metal and plastic?" Because that piece of metal and plastic is a scary gun instead of a TV table, they're both going to pick up multiple felonies for a victimless crime.