Straw Purchase: What would you do?

[kb2iaw]

straw purchase

Someone in this forum...a long time ago wrote Remember kitty genovese i remember that situation very well , When you look the other way and dont want to get involved and things turn bad you can blame your self . I think the original post was handled very well and discreet .

 

[buck00]

So I sat in my car with the engine running trying to decide what to do...do I go inside and say something, or do I just mind my own business?

Mind your own business in the future. Seriously. You meant well, but raising the alarm just because you have some free time on your hands can create a problem when there isn't one there.

Do I support illegal gun buys? Absolutely not. But I don't believe we should have gung-ho informing just because two people were talking in a parking lot and they seemed "suspicious" to you.

* Imagine you go in to buy a gun- you've saved up for months, you're all excited, but when you go in the store the clerk refuses you saying "well one of the regulars witnessed you speaking furtively with someone else in the parking lot, and based on this report we're not comforting selling to you." How would you feel?

 

[Colt]

The OP didn't run up and slap cuffs on the woman. Comparisons of him to the ATF are absurd.

Even if you think the laws concerning straw purchases are BS, they're still the current laws. The anti's and Bloombergs of the world use them to further their cause, and we ought to combat such attempts whenever possible.

If I'd owned the store in question, I would have welcomed the OP's information. He did the right thing.

 

[Big Calhoun]

Thanks again for all the support and I appreciate all the feedback.

Absolutely, in the future, I will be sure to verify and reverify what I am seeing before taking action. As I originally indicated, I didn't want to cause anyone any type of harm or an embarassing situation. Also keep in mind that it wasn't me trying to play detective; it was what seemed like a suspicious set of circumstances that I took in context and resulted in the decision that I made.

I look at the bigger picture. My feelings are that had I not said something and it ended up being a sting or illegal situation that would have closed the store, it's a black eye for all of us. I think most of us know that to most main stream media, all gunowners get lumped in together, good and bad. Rarely do I ever hear a distinction made between a legal and illegal gun owner. It's just simply, "Guns are bad...Gunowners are bad".

If the same circumstances came up and I felt the same vibe, I'd probably do it again in the same manner that I did. As far as I was concerned, I was passing the information along to the store. At that point, they could have chosed the action they were most comfortable with. As some alluded to, as long as the paperwork was in order and there was no overt sign of any shadiness, I doubt this particular store would have felt they could have done much more. But since I have no authority, I felt it best to advise those that did and let them handle the situation as appropriate. At no time did I consider calling the police or ATF or anything like that. I simply wanted to make the store owners aware of the situation.

 

[Highland Ranger]

"MYOB" is a way of saying, "To hell with you."

To hell with who? The original poster? Society?

Someone in this forum...a long time ago wrote Remember kitty genovese

Wow, there's a jump. Two completely different situations. Women calling for help as she was raped and killed, Vs two people minding their own business and talking about something that turned out to be not a straw purchase.

I'll add another statement/comparison - if you believe you should not have minded your own business, then shouldn't you be writing down the license plates of all those people who speed so you can report it to the Police? Or placing people who litter under citizens arrest?

How about jumping in and stopping a bank robbery? Taking part in hi-speed chases?

From my take, the intent of the straw purchase law is to prohibit criminals, people who choose and plan to do bad things, from making a purchase. And like many if not most gun laws it doesn't help - my guess is that guns for bad people come from other sources.

Who in their right mind would buy a gun for a stranger or even someone you knew if you even suspected it might be used for bad things? Hell, the first question should be, why aren't you buying it yourself?

The only thing this law stops is folks who maybe married the wrong person and are in a messy divorce from getting a gun.

So its the poor law abiding working slob who gets dinged again.

 

[eliphalet]

If the same circumstances came up and I felt the same vibe, I'd probably do it again in the same manner that I did. As far as I was concerned,

Absolutely, I feel confident you will. IMO you came here looking for support for your actions and have found some, the other posts will be ignored.
It's kinda like the person that asks " does this look OK on me, or do you like my( place word that fits)"? We all know what answer they are looking for.

 

[Big Calhoun]

Absolutely, I feel confident you will. IMO you came here looking for support for your actions and have found some, the other posts will be ignored.
It's kinda like the person that asks " does this look OK on me, or do you like my( place word that fits)"? We all know what answer they are looking for.

Actually, if you reference my original post, my original intention was to understand what to look for and hear anecdotal stories from anyone who has faced a similar situation. I'm confident in my integrity and don't require validation.