Home gunmaker gets 10 years; alleged straw purchaser gets probation
A Brooklyn man making firearms for his own collection is serving ten years in a maximum-security prison, while a Pennsylvania man accused of running a straw-purchasing scheme that allegedly put guns in other people's hands walked away with probation, Cam Edwards reports for Bearing Arms.
Snapshot
A New York City man remains incarcerated at Coxsackie Correctional Facility in New York after being convicted for building unregistered firearms, with no allegation he sold or misused them. Across the border, a Warren man pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges after allegedly pressuring his girlfriend into buying guns he then sold to others, according to the Post-Journal. He received probation.
Key points
- The New York sentence: He received ten years for making and failing to register firearms with the NYPD, with no claim of harm to anyone, according to the report.
- The straw-purchase case: The girlfriend told Warren police she'd bought five guns for him and that he threatened her when she refused to buy more, the affidavit states.
- Charges reduced: Both pleaded to conspiracy charges after felony counts against each were dropped, per the Post-Journal.
- A purchase after the warning: The girlfriend allegedly bought another firearm after police told her the purchases were illegal, raising questions about why he wasn't investigated for the threats, Edwards writes.
- Edwards' argument: He calls the disparity "ridiculous," noting the New York man's own attorney says a plea deal would still have meant under four years for his client.
Quick take
Edwards isn't defending the girlfriend's actions, and he isn't arguing the Warren man belonged in prison for a decade. His point is narrower: if gun laws exist to protect public safety, a decade for a man who built guns for himself and probation for one accused of funneling guns to others doesn't reflect that priority, regardless of which state is doing the sentencing.
Read the full story: bearingarms.com