Bought a Gun for Someone Else – Straw Purchase Explained

Bought a Gun for Someone Else – Straw Purchase Explained

The difference between a thoughtful gift and a 15-year federal prison sentence is a single checkbox on a federal form. That’s not an exaggeration. That’s the reality of how straw purchase law works in the United States. You walk into a gun store, you buy a firearm, you give it to someone else, and depending on one specific detail – whose money actually paid for that gun – you’re either a generous friend or a federal defendant. The law doesn’t care about your intentions. It cares about the paperwork.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to explain exactly how federal straw purchase charges work so you understand what you’re actually facing – not the sanitized version, but the real consequences that prosecutors pursue every day. Most people charged with straw purchases had no idea they were committing a federal crime. They thought they were helping a friend. They thought they were doing a favor for family. Now they’re facing up to 15 years in federal prison. This article exists because we’ve watched too many people destroy their lives over something they didn’t understand.

The question on ATF Form 4473 that creates this entire legal nightmare is Question 21.a: “Are you the actual transferee/buyer of the firearm(s) listed on this form?” If you answer “yes” but the gun is actually for someone else who gave you the money, you just committed a federal felony. Period. It doesn’t matter if the other person could have legally bought the gun themselves. It doesn’t matter if they’re your brother, your father, your best friend. The lie on the form is the crime.

The Single Question That Determines 15 Years in Federal Prison

Heres the thing most people dont understand about straw purchases. The crime isnt giving someone a gun. The crime is lying on a federal form. When you check “yes” on Question 21.a saying your the actual buyer, but someone else gave you the money to make that purchase, youve made a false statement to a Federal Firearms Licensee. Thats a federal felony under 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6). Up to 10 years in prison right there.

But wait – Congress made it worse in 2022. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act created a brand new statute, 18 U.S.C. § 932, specifically targeting straw purchases. Now your looking at up to 15 years imprisonment for a standard straw purchase. And if prosecutors can show the gun was used in drug trafficking or terrorism? 25 years. Thats not a typo. Twenty-five years in federal prison for buying a gun for the wrong person.

The form itself explains exactly what a “bona fide gift” looks like versus a straw purchase. If you use YOUR money to buy a firearm as a genuine gift for someone who can legally own it – and they gave you nothing in return – thats legal. Your the actual buyer because it was your money. But if the other person hands you cash, pays you back, or gives you anything of value for making that purchase, your not the actual buyer. There lying for them. And lying on a federal form is a crime whether or not anyone gets hurt.

Why ATF Will Find You – The Trace That Never Fails

OK so maybe your thinking “how would they ever find out?” Heres the uncomfortable truth about federal gun investigations. Every single firearm sold through a licensed dealer creates a paper trail that never dissapears. The FFL keeps your Form 4473 for at least 20 years. When they go out of business, those records go straight to ATF. There is no way to buy a gun from a dealer and not have your name permanently attached to that weapon.

When a gun shows up at a crime scene, ATF starts what they call a “trace.” They enter the serial number into the eTrace database. Within hours, they know which manufacturer made it, which distributor shipped it, which gun store sold it, and whose name is on the paperwork. Thats you. Your the first person they contact. “Mr. Smith, we recovered a firearm registered to you at a homicide scene. Can you explain how it got there?”

Heres were it gets worse. ATF pays attention to something called “time to crime” – how quickly a gun moves from legal purchase to crime scene. If you bought a gun three weeks ago and its already been used in a shooting, thats a massive red flag. They know legitimate gun owners dont usually sell or lose there firearms within weeks of purchase. A short time to crime basicly tells investigators this was probly a straw purchase from day one.

The agents who work these cases have seen every excuse. “I sold it at a gun show.” “It was stolen from my car.” “I gave it to a friend and lost touch.” They dont beleive any of it without documentation. And when your story dosent add up, they start pulling phone records and text messages. Thats when the real evidence emerges.

What Your Text Messages Will Prove

Your phone is the prosecution’s best witness against you. In nearly every straw purchase case we see, the evidence that seals the conviction comes from text messages and phone records. Prosecutors dont need a confession when they have screenshots of the exact gun the other person wanted, sent to your phone while you were standing in the gun store.

In one case, a woman’s phone showed she texted the actual buyer asking “what kind of ammo should I get?” While in the store, he sent her a screenshot of the specific firearm he wanted from an online listing. She responded with a photo of the same gun on the dealer’s shelf. That text thread was exhibit one at trial. She had no defense. The messages proved she wasnt the actual buyer – she was just the hands making the purchase.

Think about your own situation for a second. Did the other person text you about what gun to buy? Did they send you money through Venmo or Cash App? Did you discuss price, model, or features over the phone? All of that is evidence. All of it gets subpoenaed. And all of it proves that you werent the actual buyer even though you signed the form saying you were.

Heres something else nobody tells you. Your cell phone location data shows were you were when you made those calls and texts. If your phone was at the gun store while you were texting the other person, thats documented. If you drove straight from the gun store to there house, thats documented. The digital trail is completly impossible to hide once investigators start looking.

The Abramski Trap – When “Helping Family” Becomes a Federal Crime

Let me tell you about Bruce Abramski, because his case went all the way to the Supreme Court and it proves something most people refuse to beleive. Abramski was a former police officer. He knew gun laws. He thought he was being clever. His uncle wanted to buy a Glock 19, and Abramski figured he could get a law enforcement discount that his uncle couldnt. So Abramski bought the gun, checked “yes” on Question 21.a, and then transfered it to his uncle – who could have legally purchased the gun himself at full price.

Read that again. The uncle was not a prohibited person. He could have walked into any gun store in Pennsylvania and bought that exact same Glock 19. There was nothing illegal about him owning a firearm. But Abramski still got charged, convicted, and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court arguing that it shouldnt be a crime because his uncle was a legal buyer anyway.

He lost. 5-4 decision. The Supreme Court held in Abramski v. United States that the false statement on the form was material regardless of weather the ultimate recipient could legally own the gun. The lie itself is the crime. It dosent matter that no harm resulted. It dosent matter that the uncle passed a background check when he later registered the gun. Abramski made a false statement on a federal form, and thats a federal felony. Period.

Think about what that means for you. Your not “just helping” anyone. Even if the person your buying for has a clean record and could walk into any gun store and buy there own firearm, the straw purchase is still illegal. The only legal exception is a bona fide gift where you use your own money and recieve nothing in return. Anything else – any reimbursement, any payment, any exchange of value – makes you a federal defendant.

The Real People You’re Probably Buying For

Heres an uncomfortable truth that Spodek Law Group wants you to understand. ATF data shows that 60% of end users of trafficked firearms had at least one prior felony conviction. Sixty percent. More then half the people asking others to make straw purchases are doing it because there legally prohibited from buying guns themselves.

Think about why someone would ask you to buy a gun for them. If they could just walk into a store and buy it themselves, why wouldnt they? Why involve you at all? The most common reason is that they cant pass a background check. Maybe they have a felony conviction. Maybe theres a domestic violence restraining order. Maybe there a drug user or have been involuntarily committed. Whatever the reason, there asking you to do something they legaly cant do themselves.

And when you do it – when you buy that gun and hand it over – your not just committing a federal crime. Your arming someone the government has specificaly determined shouldnt have weapons. Your circumventing the entire background check system. And if that person uses that gun to hurt someone, your connected to that crime forever.

The person asking you probably seems normal. Probly seems trustworthy. They might be family, might be a friend youve known for years. But there asking you to commit a federal felony for them. And when the investigation starts, there going to be offered a deal to cooperate against you. Thats how these cases work. The actual buyer – the prohibited person – flips on the straw purchaser to reduce there own sentence. Your “friend” becomes the prosecutions star witness.

When the Gun Ends Up at a Crime Scene

Eric Lamar Keys Jr. bought a handgun in Indianapolis in March 2021. One month later, that gun was used to kill a 6-year-old girl at a McDonald’s restaurant in Chicago. The child was shot while sitting in a car in the parking lot. ATF traced the gun. The trace led back to Keys. Now hes facing federal charges connected to a childs murder.

Thats the reality of straw purchases. You dont control what happens to that gun after you hand it over. The person you bought it for might sell it to someone else. That person might use it in a robbery. That robbery might turn into a murder. And when investigators trace the weapon, the chain leads right back to you – the original straw purchaser who made it all possible.

Danny Jo Thompson II in Detroit bought AR-15 lower receivers for a convicted felon. That felon converted them into fully automatic machine guns. One of those machine guns was found in the felons truck after a shootout with law enforcement. Thompson didnt pull any triggers. He just bought the parts. But his straw purchase armed a violent criminal who then engaged in a firefight with police. Thats what Thompson has to live with.

At Spodek Law Group, weve seen clients who genuinely had no idea the person they bought for was going to commit violence. It dosent matter. The law dosent require that you knew or intended for the gun to be used in a crime. The crime is the straw purchase itself – the false statement on the form. Everything that happens after that just makes the consequences worse.

The Gift Exception That Actually Works

So is there any legal way to buy a firearm for someone else? Yes – but only one way, and it has to be done exactly right.

A bona fide gift is legal. If you use your own money – genuinely your own money with no reimbursement expected or recieved – to purchase a firearm as a gift for someone who can legally own it, thats not a straw purchase. Your the actual buyer because it was your money. Your giving a gift, not acting as someone elses purchasing agent.

Heres were people mess it up. Dad gives his son $500 for his birthday. Son uses that money to buy a gun as a “gift” for dad. Thats a straw purchase because dad’s money ultimately paid for the firearm. The gift of cash created an exchange of value. Compare that to: son uses his paycheck to buy dad a gun for Christmas with no discussion of repayment. Thats a legitimate gift.

The form itself makes this clear. The instructions say a gift is NOT bona fide if “another person offered or gave the person completing this form money, service(s), or item(s) of value to acquire the firearm.” No reimbursement. No trades. No “I’ll pay you back later.” No “I’ll owe you one.” If there’s any exchange of value, its a straw purchase.

And critically – this should be obvious but people still miss it – you absolutly cannot buy a gift for someone who is prohibited from possessing firearms. Even if its your own money. Even if you genuinely intended it as a gift. Buying a firearm with the intent to give it to a prohibited person is a federal crime regardless of whose money paid for it.

What Happens When You’re Charged

Todd Spodek has handled federal firearms cases for years, and heres what he tells clients facing straw purchase charges: the federal system is nothing like state court. Federal prosecutors have enormous resources. There conviction rate exceeds 90%. They dont bring cases they cant win.

Under the new 18 U.S.C. § 932, your looking at up to 15 years in federal prison for a straw purchase. The sentencing guidelines under §2K2.1 give judges a base offense level between 6 and 26 depending on the circumstances. If prosecutors prove you knew the gun would be used in a felony, drug trafficking, or terrorism, the maximum jumps to 25 years.

Heres the thing about federal sentencing. There’s no parole. You serve at least 85% of whatever sentence you get. A 10-year sentence means youll do at least 8.5 years. And the collateral consequences follow you forever – youll be a convicted felon, prohibited from ever owning firearms yourself, with a federal record that destroys employment opportunities for life.

The person you bought the gun for? There almost certainly going to cooperate. Federal prosecutors offer deals to lower-level defendants who can testify against others. The actual buyer – the prohibited person or the person who recruited you – has every incentive to tell investigators exactly what happened. And that testimony, combined with the paper trail and your text messages, makes the case against you almost impossible to beat at trial.

What To Do If You’re Already Under Investigation

If ATF has contacted you about a firearm, if theyve shown up at your door with questions, if your getting calls from federal agents – stop talking immediatly. Anything you say will be used against you, and agents are trained to get incriminating statements before people realize they need a lawyer.

Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196 before you answer any questions. Before you explain anything. Before you try to clarify or help investigators understand what happened. Federal agents are not your friends in this situation. Theyre building a case, and everything you say becomes evidence.

The defenses that work in straw purchase cases are limited, but they exist. Maybe there’s a genuine gift defense – you used your own money with no reimbursement. Maybe the Form 4473 questions were ambiguous. Maybe there were Fourth Amendment issues with how evidence was obtained. But these defenses require a lawyer who understands federal firearms prosecutions, not someone just trying to explain there way out of trouble.

Todd Spodek has seen what happens when people try to talk there way out of federal investigations. They make it worse. They provide additional evidence. They lock themselves into stories that fall apart when prosecutors pull the records. The time to get legal help is before you answer questions, not after youve already given agents what they need to charge you.

Call us at 212-300-5196. The consultation is confidential. And unlike that checkbox on Form 4473, this decision actually might save your future.