JALLEN wrote:Jumping Frog wrote:
The key is to follow the money, which reflects the intent of the sale.
Example 1: We are co-workers, well known to each other and both have CHL's (meaning we are not under firearms disability). I hear you are going to the gun show this weekend, so I pull out my wallet, hand you 10 hundred dollar bills, and and say, "if you find any good bargains in compact 1911's, grab it for me.". That is a straw purchase. You are not purchasing the firearm for yourself. ILLEGAL even though neither party is under firearms disability.
Example 2: We are co-workers and I see a 1911 I know you will love, so I buy it for you. That is a gift and perfectly legal.
Example 3: Man and woman standing at counter eyeing a gun purchase. Woman says she will buy it, turns to the man who hands her cash. An FFL should turn this down as it certainly looks like a straw purchase. Whether the man is a prohibited person or not is immaterial.
I'm not sure I agree.
I buy a gun I know you want, at a gun show. I then turn around and sell it to you. Any requirement to use an FFL? In California this would be illegal because every sale has to go through an FFL and the 10 day DROS wait. But some places none of that is required. How long must I own a gun before I transfer it to someone else?
Some say it's a matter of intent, but on a one off sale, that is all but impossible to prove satisfactorily, absent an admission, etc.
Example #3 is not illegal but the FFL may refuse it in an abundance of caution. If the 4473 gets filled out in the name of the woman, what difference does it make where she got the money?
No requirement to own a gun any length of time before you can sell it to someone else. So, yes, you could buy a gun at a gun show today, and sell it to me tomorrow, as long as you have no reason to believe me disqualified from owning a gun. This is where a bunch of gun "flippers" got into trouble with the ATF because, although there is no requirement to hold a gun for any length of time, the intent to make money off of flipping the guns constitutes dealing, and then those flippers were dealing without a license. But this is very hard to prove on a small scale. ATF has been cracking down on the larger scale operations.
As for #3, to each FFL his own. If the dealer has any reason to believe that the woman is not purchasing the gun for herself, the FFL can choose to handle the situation in several different ways:
1. The FFL can say, "I see you, woman, are receiving money from you, man, to purchase this gun. As that is the beginning stages of a probable straw purchase, I will need you, man, to fill out the paperwork, because you are PAYING for the gun, and you have proven by your actions that you are the one who will be using this gun, so you are the purchaser of the gun." If man refuses, FFL refuses sale. or
2. The FFL can say "Ma'am, this looks like a straw purchase, and I will not be able to complete this transaction." and kill the sale right there. It does make a difference where she got the money because the man is providing the funds that would be used to purchase the gun. But you have to couple that (him ponying up the money) with the fact that he's eyeing the gun and she doesn't seem to have a clue (yes, I inferred this from the example, because this is what generally happens in a straw purchase).
From personal experience, my husband used his credit card to pay for a gun that I 'bought' and filled out the paperwork on, and it was perfectly fine. That was because I tried out the gun, held it, felt it, confirmed to the dealer that I would be using it. There was no doubt, by my actions, that I was the purchaser of the gun, even though it went on my husband's credit card at the end of the transaction. This is a very grey area when it comes to couples/married people.
As I said in my post several levels back, the key in a husband/wife or parent/child purchase is gifting. You know the gun they want, you go get it without them, pass the background check, and then gift the gun to said spouse/child/etc. This is how 18 year old, in active duty military, can qualify and carry a concealed handgun in Texas. Said member of military cannot purchase a handgun, but can be gifted a handgun to carry concealed. With gifting, still, you have to have no reason to believe the recipient is disqualified from owning the gun.
YMMV
TBM
