Saturday, April 23, 2011

Straw Purchasing Made Easy in PA

Lehigh Valley Live has the report.

Basically the story is this. A prohibited person got his girlfriend to buy a gun for him. He ended up killing a cop with it and got killed himself. The girlfriend plea bargained her sentence down to house arrest and probation.

Is that fair or not? The little poll they have indicates that 76% say she deserves jail time.

Here's the part that interested me.

According to prosecutors, Gross initially tried to purchase a gun in New Jersey, where she lived, and was told she’d have to wait six months; she then changed her address to Autenrieth’s and bought a gun in Pennsylvania that day.
Do you think maybe there's a little bit of a problem with the Pennsylvania laws that make straw purchasing so easy? I do.

Please leave a comment.

5 comments:

  1. So there was nothing in the PA laws which required any actual proof of residence? She could just change her address to Antrieth PA......and immediately buy a gun?

    Here is a suggestion, for starters.

    Just as there are greater penalties for killing a police officer, or even a police dog, than there are for other circumstances involving killings, there should be a greater penalty in place for fraudulently buying a gun, and for buying a gun which is provided to someone else in the commission of a crime, and double those, if it kills a cop for the gun buyer, not just the killer.

    This dumb girl friend enabled the prohibited person to get a gun, with disastrous results. There should be more of a penalty than house arrest and probation.

    People died as a result of her actions.

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  2. Don't blame the laws--they are already in place--blame the courts for plea bargaining instead of prosecuting her. The law does provide for jail time if they actually convicted her for the straw purchase instead of plea bargaining it down to a lessor crime with a lessor sentence.

    Once again, if we just enforced the laws on the books, it would go a long way...

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  3. And why did the feds not step in a prosecute since it is a federal crime to straw purchase firearms.....

    because the prosecutions of firearm crimes are down under Obama.... that's why.

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  4. I blame the easy laws in PA. I blame all the gun owners who support them. And, of course I blame the girl for doing what she did.

    I'm not convinced about the increased punishment when a cop gets killed. I'm opposed to treating them as special or more valuable.

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  5. Damnit Mikeb302000! The real problem is that FELONS ever get outta jail! 'Cuz you just know that if alla the criminals (and we are NOT talking about people who accidentally shoot somebody with their lawfully obtained gunz) were kept IN jail forevah that there would be no more problems.

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