1.) DParker - 11/09/2015

...yada, yada...common sense...need to do something about straw purchasers...blah, blah....

[URL="http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/woman-who-bought-gun-used-in-kerrie-orozco-slaying-sentenced/article_dcd60ace-8716-5651-9125-cb297998694e.html"]Police oppose probation sentence given to buyer of gun used to kill Kerrie Orozco[/URL]

TL;DR version: Scumbag woman straw purchases a Glock and 50-rd drum mag (+ammo) for her scumbag felon of a boyfriend. Scumbag felon of a boyfriend promptly uses said Glock to shoot and kill a female cop. Scumbag straw purchasing accessory-to-murder girlfriend faces possible 10 years in the pokey and up to $250,000 in fines. Instead, Obama-appointed federal judge slaps her with a super-serious-about-combating-gun-crime 1 year's probation, 40 hours of community service and 180 days of house arrest.

Yeah, what we need is more/tougher laws to not enforce.

2.) Swamp Fox - 11/09/2015

Do you know why a straw purchase (of firearms) is a misdemeanor in some states and a felony in others, if the feds have it on the books as a felony and the feds seem to be the ones who prosecute straw purchases?

I didn't even think the states had anything to say about this, period, since it's a federal form required and fulfilled by the federal government, with federal penalties, but an article I read recently brought up the point that different states have different ways of classifying straw purchases of firearms. Unless that article was mistaken.

3.) DParker - 11/09/2015

[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;36211]Do you know why a straw purchase (of firearms) is a misdemeanor in some states and a felony in others, if the feds have it on the books as a felony and the feds seem to be the ones who prosecute straw purchases?[/QUOTE]

The difference is a matter of the context in which the claim is being made. If one is referring to the totality of the law that is in effect then straw purchases are always felonies, regardless of where they are made....because, as you noted, the applicable federal statutes makes them such, and federal statutes are the law of the land. If one is simply referring to state-level statutes for whatever purpose (say, a state/local DA contemplating possible charges to bring against someone) then the federal law is irrelevant (well, not completely...as it may factor into the DA's calculus...but we're talking theoretically here). That said, most states do not even have their own "straw purchase" laws.

So in one sense it is perfectly valid to speak in terms of "felony here, but not there" when comparing state/local laws. But in the larger sense straw purchases are always a felony, because federal law applies everywhere.

[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;36211]I didn't even think the states had anything to say about this, period, since it's a federal form required and fulfilled by the federal government, with federal penalties, but an article I read recently brought up the point that different states have different ways of classifying straw purchases of firearms. Unless that article was mistaken.[/QUOTE]

That article, in so far as you describe it here, was correct. "Straw purchase" is an informal term used to describe a general concept, not a specific act. So although the applicable federal statutes define the offense in terms of things like lying on a 4473 (among other related actions), states are free to base their own definitions on whatever firearms transfer actions they wish. In addition, I don't know that there's anything to prevent them from including falsifying the 4473 in such definitions, even though it's a federal form.

4.) Swamp Fox - 11/09/2015

That makes sense, in light of the idea that most states don't have firearms straw purchase laws to begin with.

I suppose my initial thought was that a state felony charge is piling on after facing a federal felony, but I guess that's pretty much the whole point of joint federal-state prosecutions, LOL.