As an FFL, you are the FIRST line of defense against prohibited persons getting guns.
It is your responsibility to do your best to make sure that you don’t transfer guns to these people.
Unfortunately, a popular approach by prohibited persons is to have someone else, who is not prohibited, purchase the gun for them. This is called a “straw purchase.”
Straw purchases are not only an issue that allows criminals access to guns, they are also a problem for you as an FFL. FFLs, and employees of FFLs, have been criminally prosecuted and have had their FFLs revoked for allowing straw purchases.
So, how do you stop a straw purchase when the very act is an act of deception?
Be vigilant.
Straw Purchases
Prohibited persons are not allowed to possess firearms or ammunition – naturally, this means that they can not purchase them either.
The law doesn’t just apply to prohibited persons, however. It is also illegal for anyone to knowingly allow a prohibited person to possess firearms or ammunition. This applies to everyone!
As a licensed gun dealer/FFL, then you may not sell nor rent firearms or ammunition to a prohibited person (or someone that you should reasonably know is a prohibited person).
As you can tell from the list of prohibited persons in Chapter 2, it may be extremely difficult to determine who is a prohibited person.
Often, a prohibited person will get someone who is not a prohibited person to purchase firearms for them – this is a straw purchase and will put your FFL and your freedom in jeopardy!
There are a few things you should watch out for and do to help prevent straw purchases.
How to Identify and Prevent Straw Purchases
There are three main ways to prevent straw purchases:
- Educate your customers and staff,
- Track failed attempts to purchase, and
- Match the gun to the customer.
Educate your customers and staff
Unfortunately, attempted straw purchases are often made by unknowing significant others of prohibited persons. All too often, a girlfriend of a felon (and the FFL who participated) gets into serious trouble for straw purchases.
Educating the potential straw purchaser is crucial!
After all, the crime is being committed by the person in your store (the person legally allowed to purchase and possess a firearm). Often, if they are aware that THEY are committing a serious crime and THEY are the ones that will get into trouble, then they will not try.
Educating your staff is an absolute necessity!
Your staff is the first line of defense against straw purchases. You have a serious responsibility as an FFL!
We’re going to discuss some things to watch out for, but you should look into the Don’t Lie for the Other Guy program. It is a joint effort of the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the DOJ/ATF made to educate customers and staff about straw purchases. If you keep an eye out, you’ll likely see this program’s material in most gun shops – you should have it in yours too!
Track failed attempts to purchase
You should keep a log of denied purchases.
By keeping such a log, you can easily spot when someone comes in to purchase a specific firearm, is denied the sale because of their answers or background check, and then someone comes in later to purchase the same firearm – often with the same last name or address!
This is especially helpful if the same description of a firearm is used, or it is a unique firearm that isn’t often asked about.
It also helps to see how the person asks for the firearm.
If you have a denied background check or a suspected straw purchase, you should keep a log of the person’s name, their address, and the type of firearm they were asking about/looking at/trying to purchase. If this person is going to use someone else to attempt a straw purchase for them, then there’s a good chance that someone with the same last name or the same address is going to come in asking for the same firearm.
If anything is fishy about the transaction, you have the duty to stop the transaction. You have the right (and responsibility) to refuse bad transactions.
Also, keeping such a log will go a long way to showing the ATF that you go above and beyond with your compliance and that if there was a straw purchase, it fooled you, and you did not knowingly allow it to happen.
This log, however, is part of YOUR records. You should not allow the ATF to inspect this as part of a normal compliance inspection. If you do, there’s a chance that they’ll find something that looks like you missed a straw purchase.
Match the gun to the customer
This requires a bit of pre-judging and profiling, but it is worth it! No sale is worth the potentially criminal misuse of a firearm or the loss of your FFL.
If a 100lb 21-year-old female walks into your store, pulls a piece of paper out of her back pocket, and reads off of it saying: “I need a Remington 700 BDL in 300 RUM,” you are right to ask her some follow-up questions such as:
“Why 300 Win Mag?”
“What’s that for?”
“Would you like to see make/model X or caliber y?”
“Do you want a scope/sling with that?”
Yes, this is a bit sexist. No, the Second Amendment doesn’t require a particular use. I get it…trust me. These questions may seem intrusive to you.
However, if she has no clue about the firearm or what it is for, then there’s a good chance she’s been sent into your store to buy the firearm for someone else.
I’m not saying to not sell it to her. I’m just asking you to feel comfortable that you are making a lawful sale. If you’re not comfortable, then don’t make the sale!
If it’s not a legitimate purchase, she’s likely to answer with “I don’t know, that’s just what I was told to get,” or “um, I think this is the one I want,” or “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to get a sling/scope too.”
If it is a legitimate purchase, you may have just helped her make a better decision about her firearm and also may have up-sold accessories for a better sale.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that the firearm is a gift. Someone may legally purchase a firearm for another person ONLY IF it’s a bona fide gift (they’re not being reimbursed and the money is actually the purchaser’s), and they have no reason to believe that the recipient of the gift is a prohibited person.
When it comes to gifts, it is a best practice to offer a gift card instead. This way, the intended recipient gets to pick out what they actually want, and they are the ones to fill out the paperwork and background check. Also, it’s just good business to encourage gift cards.