Exactly. And if he had to go thru a licensed dealer, how could he claim he never received them?
Unless he himself was a licensed dealer, or the dealer was in cahoots with him.
Sounds like he was hitting up private sellers, acting as a local. Maybe it’s a story to gin up interest in more clampdowns on individual sellers. I have no idea about gun sales... once a gun is bought in my family it has a “forever home” and won’t get sold [though it could of course get lost on a canoe trip.]
Or he sent fake FFL copies to them.