It may also be a Cali crime, but buying a gun not for use by yourself is a Federal crime. US DOJ Form 4473 question 11a asks if the gun is only for yourself and makes it clear you can’t buy a gun to be used by someone else. The Feds have taken a lot of joy in prosecuting otherwise law abiding citizens who have bought guns for friends and relatives, kind of surprising to see them go after an actual criminal.
A major exception to this of course is if you are part of a federal program to transfer guns to drug cartels, then you’re ok.
Greed. I always thought that it took a special kind of stupid to get convicted of a straw purchase.
There’s no federal law that prohibits a gift of a firearm to a relative or friend that lives in your home state. Abramski v. United States, a recent Supreme Court decision involving a “straw purchase†of a firearm did not change the law regarding firearms as gifts. The following states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington State) and the District of Columbia require you to transfer a firearm through a local firearms retailer so an instant background check will be performed to make sure the recipient is not legally prohibited from owning the gun. Maryland and Pennsylvania require a background check for private party transfer of a handgun. There are exceptions, so it’s important to carefully check the law of your state or ask your local firearms retailer.
http://www.nssfblog.com/giving-a-firearm-as-a-gift-some-reminders-from-nssf/
Yes many fools get in trouble by not doing some basic research.
One other thought. Last I hears the scum killer had bought the pistols “legally”. If that is true why would the rifles have been a problem for him? Just wondering out loud.
“asks if the gun is only for yourself and makes it clear you can’t buy a gun to be used by someone else. The Feds have taken a lot of joy in prosecuting otherwise law abiding citizens who have bought guns for friends and relatives”
That has not been my experience as an FFL. I LEGALLY sell firearms all the time to people who state that the guns are gifts for friends or relatives.
Just buying a gun for someone else is not a crime. It IS a crime if someone buys a gun for someone else because they know the other person can’t pass the instacheck or simply doesn’t want their name used. That’s called a straw purchase and it IS illegal:
http://www.dontlie.org/straw_purchasing.cfm