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October 21, 2009

Working to Prevent The Illegal Purchase of Guns

The video below gives a good overview of the Don't Lie for the Other Guy straw-purchase deterrent program.

Today in San Diego, the firearms industry, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will join forces to launch Don't Lie for the Other Guy. The goal of the program is twofold: to warn residents and visitors about the severe penalties associated with illegally purchasing a firearm, and to educate federally licensed firearms retailers on how to better detect and deter potential straw purchasers.

Straw purchasers are individuals able to pass the criminal background check required by federal law before the retail purchase of any firearm. However, these people are not the actual buyers of the firearm; instead, they use their good name to commit the crime of providing a gun to a person prohibited by law from possessing a one. The program's key  message is: Buy a gun for someone who can't and buy yourself 10 years in jail.

Over the past year, the Don't Lie program has been rolled out in Texas cities along Rio Grande, plus Houston, San Antonio and Tucson. The program was jointly developed by ATF and the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

</p> <p>Don&#8217;t Lie for the Other Guy is a national campaign to prevent the illegal purchase of firearms, commonly called &#8216;straw purchases&#8217;.</p> <p>Convicted felons, minors, persons determined by a court of law to be &#8220;mentally defective&#8221; and certain others are prohibited by law from buying a firearm. </p> <p>If a friend or relative asks you to lie to the federal government or to a federally licensed firearms retailer to try to buy a gun for him/her, don&#8217;t do it! It&#8217;s not worth 10 years in jail. </p> <p>Understanding the importance of cooperating with law enforcement, the firearms industry through the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) &#8212; the industry&#8217;s trade association &#8212; has for more than a decade partnered with the Department of Justice&#8217;s (DOJ) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) to assist law enforcement in educating firearms retailers to be better able to identify and deter illegal straw purchases and to raise public awareness that straw purchasing is a serious crime.</p> <p>

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Categories: Education, Safety