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http://www.supremecourt.gov/qp/12-01493qp.pdf
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12-1493 ABRAMSKI V. UNITED STATES
DECISION BELOW: 706 F.3d 307
LOWER COURT CASE NUMBER: 11-4992
QUESTION PRESENTED:
When a person buys a gun intending to later sell it to someone else,
the government often prosecutes the initial buyer under 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6)
for making a false statement about the identity of the buyer that is
“material to the lawfulness of the sale.”
These prosecutions rely on the court-created “straw purchaser” doctrine,
a legal fiction that treats the ultimate recipient of a firearm as the
“actual buyer,” and the immediate purchaser as a mere “straw man.”
The lower courts uniformly agree that a buyer’s intent to resell a gun
to someone who cannot lawfully buy it is a fact
“material to the lawfulness of the sale.”
But the Fourth, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits
have split with the Fifth and Ninth Circuits
about whether the same is true when the ultimate recipient
can lawfully buy a gun.
The questions presented are:
1. Is a gun buyer’s intent to sell a firearm
to another lawful buyer in the future a fact
“material to the lawfulness of the sale”
of the firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6)?
2. Is a gun buyer’s intent to sell a firearm
to another lawful buyer in the future a piece of information
“required ... to be kept” by a federally licensed firearm dealer
under § 924(a)(I)(A)?
CERT. GRANTED 10/15/2013
>>When a person buys a gun intending to later sell it to someone else,
the government often prosecutes the initial buyer under 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6)
for making a false statement about the identity of the buyer that is
“material to the lawfulness of the sale.”<<
Right here is the reason you should never buy firearms from dealers. Always buy from private parties!
“buyer’s intent to resell a gun”
Guns, being the most durable of goods in our society, may very well be purchased with the intent to sell some years or decades hence. In fact, the imputation may be made that ALL gun purchases are done with “intent to resell” (if for $0), as short of extreme cases the gun WILL outlast the owner. The question, as asked, places no upper limit on the timeframe of “intent”.
So... who goes to jail for running guns under Fast and Furious?