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.
“I always thought that it took a special kind of stupid to get convicted of a straw purchase.”
Indeed. Especially for the FFL dealer themselves.
Basically, for an FFL to have broken the straw purchase law, they have to have KNOWINGLY participated in a straw purchase, in other words, the buyer says something to the effect that they are buying the gun for their brother-in-law who just got out of prison for serving a 20 year term for murder and can’t pass the check, and the FFL says something to the effect of “Sure, why not. That’s OK by me.”