Curio status of Artillery Stock

[Mauser720]

It is my opinion that alanit is 100% correct on this issue.

I think I will share the following true story which illustrates the effort the BATF is willing to make in order to obtain a conviction:

Two men walk into a hardware store which sells guns. One loudly announces "I shouldn't even be in this place since I've had a little problem with domestic violence."

The other claims to be interested in a particular handgun. The clerk, an elderly woman in her late 70s processes the required instant criminal background check for the man, and makes sure he has filled out the required paperwork properly.

He then pays her for the handgun in cash.

The pair become frequent visitors to the hardware store, sometimes just visiting, but occasionally the man who bought the first pistol will buy another pistol, and always pay for it in cash.

This goes on for months and months, until finally the man has purchased perhaps 7 or 8 pistols, all after passing the instant background check, and always paying in cash.

But one day, this "buyer" discoveres he is short by $20.00 of the purchase price of the gun. So he turns to his friend and says "Hey Frank, can you loan me $20? I will give it back to you tonight."

Of course "Frank" is willing to loan his friend the $20 and the buyer leaves the store with the handgun.

Does this story sound innocent enough so far? Well, in fact, both of these customers are actually agents of the BATF.

And when the customer, who had become friends with the elderly woman, borrowed $20.00 from his friend, this constituted what the BATF refers to a "strawman purchase."

A "strawman purchase" exists when someone buys a firearm for someone else. In this case, the charge was that a man who was not authorized to buy a handgun, the alleged domestic abuse offender, actually paid for the handgun when he provided the $20.00 for the purchase.

Does this story sound "far fetched" to you?

Well, the BATF took the elderly woman to court, and her supervisor who was the owner of the hardware store. He was presumed guilty since he was her supervisor, although he did not even know that she had allowed the purchaser to borrow the $20 to complete the purchase. He was sentenced to 1 year and one day in prison, so that he would be ineligible for parole before a year had expired. She was sentenced to one year in prison.

The hardware store had to be closed while these two were in prison.

So did the elderly woman violate the law? Yes.

Did the BATF create a sting operation in which its own agents represented themselves to be just ordinary good guys looking to buy a handgun? Yes.

Did they befriend the elderly woman over a period of months before they sprang their trap? Yes. (Incidentally, when I talked with her before she went to prison, she told me "I thought those guys were my friends.")

Now ask yourself this question: If the BATF can make such a considerable effort in order to get a conviction, do you think they might also send agents to a gun range, or a gun show, or to respond to a gun for sale advertisement?

I agree with everyone else in this thread who has stressed how careful you need to be in any of your firearm collecting and/or selling activites.