Bad news on the Straw Purchase front.

In case you missed it,The Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Abramski v. US where it found that Abramski HAD made a straw purchase even though the person he bought the gun for was not disqualified from owning a gun.  The matter seems to hang on the following items from the form:

Most important here, Question 11.a. asks (with bolded emphasis appearing on the form itself):
“Are you the actual transferee/buyer of the firearm(s) listed on this form?
Warning:
You are not the actual buyer if you are acquiring the firearm(s) on behalf of another person. If you are not the actual buyer, the dealer cannot transfer the firearm(s) to you.”

The accompanying instructions for that question provide:
“Question 11.a. Actual Transferee/Buyer:
For purposes of this form, you are the actual transferee/buyer if you are purchasing the firearm for yourself or otherwise acquiring the firearm for yourself . . . .You are also the actual transferee/buyer if you are legitimately purchasing the firearm as a gift for a third party.
ACTUAL TRANSFEREE/BUYER EXAMPLES:
Mr. Smith asks Mr. Jones to purchase a firearm for Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith gives Mr. Jones the money for the firearm. Mr. Jones is NOT THE ACTUAL TRANSFEREE/BUYER of the firearm and must answer “NO” to question 11.a.”

In other words, if someone pays someone else to buy them a gun--it is a straw purchase, unless the item was a gift.

Of course, Scalia, in typical fashion, has to say black is white: even though it seems pretty clear that this says the transaction in question is illegal.  In fact, this case is on point with the example given by the form.

This is bad news for the gun manufacturers.  It's probably even worse for the firearms dealers since “[T]he focus of the federal scheme,” in controlling access to weapons, “is the federally licensed firearms dealer."

Woman Who Bought Guns for Killer Gets Prison

Local news reports

Dawn Nguyen, who bought weapons that a gunman used to kill two West Webster firefighters in 2012, will spend the next 16 months to four years in a state prison.

State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Moransentenced Nguyen on Monday, a month after she was convicted of lying on a firearms transaction form when she bought the guns in 2010.

It was the maximum sentence, yet Moran said it failed to match Nguyen's crime — providing guns to William Spengler Jr., a convicted felon who beat his grandmother to death with a hammer in 1981. He was barred from owning firearms as a result.

The sentence was a win for prosecutors, who sought a prison term. Nguyen's attorney, Matthew Parrinello, previously said probation would be appropriate.

"Everyone wants to connect Dawn Nguyen to that, to say but for Dawn Nguyen that wouldn't have happened," he said of the shooting. "Our position is that isn't correct."

After the sentencing, Ted Scardino, one of two firefighters wounded in the 2012 shooting, said Moran "hit the nail on the head." With a crowd of uniformed first responders behind him, Scardino recalled what Nguyen's attorney said about her nieces.

"Several families here have little kids that don't have a father or don't have a son anymore," Scardino said.

Nguyen bought a rifle and shotgun at Gander Mountain in June 2010. She indicated on a firearms form the weapons were for her, but authorities said they were for Spengler, her neighbor.

On Christmas Eve 2012, Spengler set a fire at his Lake Road home in Webster and ambushed emergency responders, killing volunteer firefighters Tomasz Kaczowka andMichael Chiapperini and wounding Scardino and Joseph Hofstetter.

Authorities say Spengler also used a third weapon — a handgun — to kill his sister, Cheryl, before setting the fire. He used that gun to kill himself.

Assistant District Attorney Timothy Prosperi said Nguyen chose to ignore obvious risks in buying weapons for a felon whom her family called the "crazy dude."

As Nguyen traveled to Gander Mountain, looked at guns with Spengler and filled out the transaction form at the register, she had several chances to change her mind and walk away, yet she did not, Prosperi said.

"Essentially, judge, she ignored these dangers and made a calculated decision to engage in this crime for money," he said.

Prosecutors maintain that Spengler paid Nguyen $1,000 to buy the guns.

Nguyen also faces federal charges in connection with the gun purchase.

About Straw Purchasing

A billboard made from crushed firearms in Mexico near the U.S. border. 

The New York Times 

Interstate firearms trafficking thrives because each state regulates gun sales differently, and there is no federal limitation on the number of guns that an individual may purchase at any one time. California, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and New Jersey have laws limiting consumers to one gun per month; Texas does not. In the 2011 operation in Arizona, one defendant bought six AK-47s from one gun store, and within the space of two weeks, he bought 17 from another store. Less than a month later, he bought 20 from the same store. Three months later, he went back and bought 10 more. 

Tracking the sales of guns so straw buyers can be detected is impossible in the present political environment. “The National Rifle Association has so successfully opposed a comprehensive electronic database of gun sales that the A.T.F.’s congressional appropriation explicitly prohibits establishing one,” Katherine Eban wrote in Fortune in 2012.

The NSSF Working with FFL Dealers to Prevent Straw Purchasing

NSSF link and remark by ssgmarkcr

 I was wandering around as I often do and came upon this article from the National Shooting Sports Foundation.  Apparently, the NSSF has been working in conjunction with the ATF with the "Don't lie for the other guy" program to combat straw purchases. 

    This article give tips to help FFL's prevent straw purchases by utilizing the records they are required to keep and apparently what is a common practice among straw purchasers.

"As an FFL, you know that you have to maintain a separate file, in alphabetical or chronological order, of ATF Forms 4473 in cases where the NICS check came back “denied”, or where a delayed response was received and no firearm was transferred. But, did you know that this file can be another valuable tool in detecting and preventing straw purchases?

Persons who are denied by NICS often send in a family member, someone they reside with or a friend to the buy the exact firearm that they wanted to purchase.  In addition to employing the techniques of the “Don’t Lie” program, NSSF recommends that you review your denied Form 4473 file before every firearms transaction.

As soon as the buyer completes Section A of Form 4473, and before calling in the NICS check, you should compare the last name, the address and, if you have a practice of recording it on your 4473 forms, the serial number of the firearm that the buyer wishes to obtain. If there is no apparent match to your denied Forms 4473, and you have no other reason to suspect a straw purchase you can continue with the transaction.

If there is a match to the last name, address or firearm; you should make further inquiries of the buyer and if you are not completely satisfied that they are in fact the actual buyer of the firearm, you must decline the sale."

Pennsylvania Woman Goes to Jail for Straw Purchasing a Gun for her Boyfriend the Felon

Local news reports

A Secane woman was sentenced Tuesday to serve 11-22 months for providing a convicted felon with a handgun.

Rosemary Epright, 33, of the 800 block of Quaint Street, was convicted on a single count of illegally transferring a handgun without a license following a jury trial in December.

Judge James Nilon fashioned the sentence so that Epright will serve 60 weekends at the Delaware County prison, for a total 120 days, before serving the remainder of the minimum balance on electronic home monitoring. She reports for her first weekend this Friday.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, Glenolden police responded to a report of an assault at a fencing company in the 100 block of North MacDade Boulevard on Jan. 29, 2013.

While investigating, officers discovered that the company’s owner, John Romano, was in possession of two handguns despite having a burglary conviction on his record, which barred him from legally owning firearms.

Romano turned over to police a loaded Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun and a loaded Glock .40-caliber handgun that were in his desk drawer. He allegedly told investigators the guns had been purchased by friends for his protection.

The 9 mm Smith & Wesson was registered to Epright, who allegedly told police she bought the weapon at a Collingdale gun shop in November 2008 while with Romano. An employee of Romano’s said they had frequently seen Romano in possession of three different handguns, including the Smith & Wesson.

Gun Seller in Killing of Plymouth Officer Fox Sentenced to 20-66 years

Michael Henry, the straw purchaser of the gun used to kill Plymouth police Officer Brad Fox, is led into the courtroom for his sentencing in Montgomery County Courthouse Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013. Photo by Gene Walsh

Local news reports

During an emotion-filled hearing punctuated by tears and grief from the widow and comrades of slain Plymouth police Officer Bradley Fox, a Philadelphia man learned his fate for providing a gun to the Lower Merion man who used it to kill Fox.

Michael Joseph Henry, 31, of the 900 block of North 41st Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court on Thursday to 20to66 years in a state correctional facility for selling nine guns, including a Beretta pistol, to convicted felon Andrew Charles Thomas, who used the Beretta to fatally shoot Fox last Sept. 13.

“This defendant is supplying guns to someone who is suicidal and who he thinks is paranoid and he’s arming him to the teeth. I find that to be an aggravating factor,” said Judge Joseph A. Smyth, explaining his reasons for imposing some maximum penalties against Henry. “He placed these guns into the underground market which is usually frequented by criminals.”

Henry, prosecutors said, made “straw purchases” of nine firearms, seven pistols and two rifles, at gun stores in West Norriton, Montgomery County, and East Pikeland, Chester County, between April and July 2012. Henry then illegally transferred the nine weapons, in exchange for $500 each, to Thomas, 44, of Grasmere Road, Lower Merion.