PA Bill Number: HB2311
Title: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program.
Description: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program. ...
Last Action: Laid on the table
Last Action Date: Sep 23, 2024
Buying a gun for someone? Take caution :: 12/12/2015
Purchasing a firearm for a loved one may sound like a good idea, but if you're not careful, it could cost you much more than just the price of the gun.
In Louisiana, guns can be traded and bought privately without background checks. However, all federally licensed gun sellers must perform background checks on purchasers.
If you buy a gun from a retailer for someone who couldn't pass a background check — called a straw purchase — it could cost upwards of $250,000 or 10 years in jail, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
"We can usually tell by the first question," Lafayette Shooters manager Blake Boudreaux said. "If a first-time purchaser comes in and they know exactly what they're looking for, then that this gun might not be for this person."
According to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives study in 2000, straw purchasing rings and small scale straw purchasers comprised nearly 50 percent of the trafficking investigations, by far the largest amount. Although the average number of guns per investigation in straw purchases was under 40, they made up almost 26,000 trafficked firearms, about the same number of firearms as guns trafficked illegally during gun shows.
If you really want to purchase a gun as a gift, there are some measures you can take to protect yourself, according to Caleb Morse, assistant sales manager at Barney's in Carencro.
Don't lie. If you're purchasing a gun with the intent of giving it to someone else, it's important to make that known. Lying on a background check form is illegal, and can result in jail time.
Know the recipient of the gun well, Morse and Boudreaux recommended. You're on the line if something illegal is done with that firearm, so you want to make sure that person is someone you can trust.
"You may think you know someone, but you don't know everything about them," Morse said.
Know what the person will do with the gun, they said. The purpose of the gun is almost as important as the person using it.
Like with any gift, gun enthusiast Josh Hefner said, you want to make sure you know the person you're spending hundreds of dollars will actually use what you're buying them.
"I always make sure they have handled that gun, it fits them and they actually like shooting it," he said. "It can make it more challenging for it to be a surprise but it's better this way.
"I bought my wife a pistol that she loves until she shot it. It ended up being a waste and we sold it for a slight loss."
You may also want to have the recipient fill out a bill of sale with you to signify the transfer of the gun. In the event the firearm is stolen or used in a crime, Morse said, a bill of sale will allow you to show police that the gun had been given to someone else.
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"I have had people fill out paperwork after I told them I was buying the gun," Hefner said. "That way, it was completely theirs. Not as nice as unwrapping it, but better in the long run, in my opinion."
If you're not sure what to buy, trust the experts.
Most people working in gun shops are experts, or at least enthusiasts, Morse said. Do your research, he said, but let the experts help you.
"The biggest mistake first time buyers make is believing everything they read on the internet," Morse said.
If in doubt, buy a gift card. Both Morse and Boudreaux agreed that if you're nervous about buying a gun for someone or if you don't know exactly what they want, you can just purchase a gift card.
Boudreaux said he's seen gun sales rise as they always do this time of year, but not nearly at the level they've been in previous years.
"I think it's partially because of the problems in the oil field," he said.
Gun sales spiked after the July 23 Grand 16 Theatre shooting, in which John Russel Houser opened fire on a crowd of moviegoers during a showing of the movie "Trainwreck" in Lafayette, but the rush to buy guns for self defense seems to have died down as more and more shootings happen.
"It's numbing off," he said. "There's not as much of a knee-jerk reaction to buy a gun after events like these happen."
http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/2015/12/11/buying-gun-someone-take-caution/76664774/
