The steam is slowly leaking out of the Left’s drive to close the so-called gunshow loophole. You know, the loophole where anyone can walk into a gunshow and walk out with a gun, no questions asked. Turns out the way Liberals portray gunshows is not true. Most people selling guns at gunshows are actually licensed firearms dealers; they do background checks. And interviews with prison inmates convicted of gun crimes have shown less than 1% (0.8%) got their gun from a gunshow. So while you can buy a gun from a private individual without a background check, gunshows are not the huge source of illegal guns for criminals.
So they have moved on to another target. But this one is actually worthy of some attention: Straw Purchasers. If you’re not familiar with the term, a straw purchase is a criminal act in which a person who is prohibited from buying firearms uses another person to buy a gun on their behalf. Strangely enough, there is no Federal Law that uses the term “straw purchase”. That might be why the Left is jumping on this one demanding laws against straw purchases. But even though it’s not called a “straw purchase” every activity involved in making a straw purchase is already a Federal felony.
Each of the below is already a Federal felony:
Buy a firearm in a State where you’re not a resident – 5 year sentence.
Sell a firearm to someone not a resident of that State – 5 year sentence.
Using false ID or making false statements to buy a firearm – 5 year sentence.
Convicted felon buys, receives or transports a firearm – 10 year sentence.
Fugitive from justice buys, receives or transports a firearm – 10 year sentence.
Known drug user buys, receives or transports a firearm – 10 year sentence.
Intent to use illegally acquired gun to commit a felony – 10 year sentence.
Transferring an illegally acquired gun to commit a felony – 10 year sentence.
Giving a firearm or ammunition to convicted felon – 10 year sentence.
Giving a firearm or ammunition to a fugitive from justice – 10 year sentence.
Giving a firearm or ammunition to a drug abuser – 10 year sentence.
Shipping or transporting a stolen weapon – 10 year sentence
Possessing a stolen weapon – 10 year sentence.
Possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number – 10 year sentence.
Felon with 3 convictions commits any of the above – 15 year sentence.
So as you can see, most any activity associated with a straw purchase is already a Federal felony. If a Federal law against making straw purchases would make everyone happy, I wouldn’t have a problem with that; as long as it was only used against those with criminal intent in mind. A former police officer who could still use his police officer’s discount, bought a gun for his uncle to save him some money. The uncle was not a felon and could have bought the gun for full price. But under the current law, the former police officer was convicted of making a false statement to buy a firearm for another person.
But having a law doesn’t do any good if it’s not enforced and violators not prosecuted. In 2014, with thousands of claimed straw purchases made every year, the Justice Department only prosecuted 124 cases.
In the 2010-2012 time-frame, 72,600 applications for firearms purchase were denied based on the background check. But only 62 were considered for prosecution and only 44 were actually prosecuted.
Maybe this is why ten states have passed their own laws against straw purchasers. If the Federal government doesn’t want to stop guns from getting in the hands of criminals, the States will pick up the slack. Or maybe not. Since Minnesota passed its straw purchaser law, only ten people have been charged. It seems passing a law is a lot easier than convicting someone of breaking that law.
Funny how it was no problem to convict a former police officer trying to save his uncle a few bucks, but nearly impossible to prosecute people actually putting guns into the hands of criminals.