Dallas Morning News and gun show guns

| August 10, 2015

Dallas Headline

That headline comes from the Dallas Morning News story about Nii Armah Obeney, Dambayi Edmund Awufiba and Henry Kofi Plange, three Ghanians living in Texas who bought some guns and shipped them to Ghana. You would think from the headline that they just went around and bought guns at area gun shows to ship overseas so they could escape detection from federal authorities. Well, that’s not totally true;

Obeney, Awufiba and Plange falsely stated in federal forms that the guns they bought were intended for their use, according to the indictment. It did not say how many guns the men bought and shipped.

Obeney and Awufiba also lied on federal forms by saying they were U.S. citizens, the indictment said.

It’s generally illegal to buy a gun for someone else unless it’s a gift. Straw buyers, as they’re known, are commonly used in arms smuggling schemes. People without criminal histories are chosen as buyers in order to pass the instant background checks that are required when purchasing from licensed dealers at gun shows or in gun stores.

[…]

The men bought the guns two and three at a time at gun shows in Irving, Fort Worth and elsewhere, the indictment said.

So, yeah, they bought a few guns at gun shows, but the majority of the guns were bought from dealers – and the criminals lied on the federal forms, you know like criminals are expected to be truthful, or something. It’s also been my experience that even if you buy guns at a gunshow, you still need a back ground check and you have to fill out the forms if you’re buying a gun from a dealer at a gun show.

The article doesn’t specify if the crooks bought from a private owner or a dealer at the gun show. That would ruin the pcture they’re trying to paint here – that criminals all buy their guns at gun shows. Cue scary music; gun show loop holes. Actually , the FBI says that less than 1% of criminals in prison have bought the firearms they used in their crimes at gun shows according to interviews. I have three guns that I’ve bought at gun shows and I went through background checks every time. But, then, I’m an American citizen and not a criminal.

Category: Guns

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Ex-PH2

Just as I thought it was safe to go back into the water, too!

Dagnabbit, this is going to make Batemaster’s brains boil! And Henanmeaneman or whatever his name is this year.

Dapandico

All three are registered to vote, thanks to the local DMV.

2/17 Air Cav

Put their names together and it will look like someone just upchucked a can of Campbell’s Alphabet Soup. Look:
niiarmahobeneydambayie
dmundawufibahenrykofiplange

Pinto Nag

Any time I’ve bought a gun, I had to show at least one state-issued picture ID, and that gun didn’t leave the building until my name cleared the NICS system. So, somebody tell me how these doofi got guns from anybody, anywhere here that was licensed to sell guns?

Hondo

Um, by using a fake ID? Or their driver’s license (most states do issue a drivers’ license to resident aliens, as I recall and resident aliens having PRI status may own firearms). Or maybe the two the guy that were was a naturalized citizens bought all the weapons using their his US passport? (I’m reasonably sure a US passport qualifies as a government-issued photo ID.)

David

You do not have to be a US citizen to buy, but you need at minimum a green card. Note in the article they lied on their forms, and probably lied to the dealers as well: “Oh yes, I am an American citizen – got my citizenship three years ago.” I would not be terribly surprised to find that at some point an audit of sales at ATF turned up some suspicious 4473s with foreign sounding names which when crossed with Immigration databases showed no hits. Texas driver’s licenses do not indicate nationality. One note – doesn’t matter where the dealer is at any point in time, gun show or no – ANY sale, even from his private collection, has to be treated as a commercial, NICS backgound-checked sale.

nbcguy54ACTUAL

“ANY sale, even from his private collection, has to be treated as a commercial, NICS background-checked sale.”

Not entirely true. With a few exceptions, firearms considered “curios and relics” (over 50 years old) are not considered “firearms” for the purpose of ATF jurisdiction.

https://www.atf.gov/firearms/curios-relics

and

27 CFR 478.11 (definitions)
Firearm. Any weapon, including a
starter gun, which will or is designed
to or may readily be converted to expel
a projectile by the action of an explosive;
the frame or receiver of any such
weapon; any firearm muffler or firearm
silencer; or any destructive device;

but the term shall not include an antique
firearm. In the case of a licensed collector,the term shall mean only curios
and relics.

The ATF Form 4473 is a “Firearms Transaction Record”. If the weapon is not considered a firearm, then no 4473 needs to be filled out, thus no background check required.

David

I stand corrected – C&Rs have their own rules… but somehow I doubt these clowns were shipping Walkers and Dragoons to Somalia.

nbcguy54ACTUAL

I don’t know. Have seen some of that old shit they seem to use every time there’s a news clip on TV??

😉

nbcguy54ACTUAL

Eventually, this get’s into what ATF considers an “identification document”.

https://www.atf.gov/file/55496/download

nbcguy54ACTUAL

I’d rather see the guns given to some dumbass in Africa than to gang-bangers here in Slammintonio.

What’s the issue?

Hondo

Other than the commitment of one Federal felony per firearm purchased and shipped?

SFC D

So what we’ve learned from this report is that criminals lie.

OWB

The huge shocker is that criminals not only lie, but they commit crimes. Golly, gee, whiz. That’s a real headline right there, isn’t it?

CRIMINALS LIE AND COMMIT CRIMES.

Bill M

WHAT? When did we find this out? Do our politicians know? Has anyone told them? How could this happen? We need more laws to keep these criminals from doing this!!!

\sarc

Just an Old Dog

I can’t figure out why the hell someone would go through the trouble of buying a gun in the US to ship it to Ghana.
There are tons of third world shitholes where you could get weapons, not surprisingly most are close to Ghana.

OWB

Yep. There might just be a connection between those two things.

UpNorth

The BATFE arrested a man in Grand Rapids, Mi, for smuggling pistols to Lebanon. Talk about taking ants to a picnic.
He was just released on a $100K bond. No mention in the article that he had to surrender his passport, but the Federal Court did put him on an ankle monitor.
http://woodtv.com/2015/08/07/gr-man-accused-of-smuggling-guns-out-on-100k-bond/

Roger in Republic

Well, so much for the vaunted background check system that the Libtards always crow about. What good is it if it can’t even differentiate between citizens and aliens. I sure hope ICE can figure out that these guys are not someone of high moral charater, and launch them back to Africa.

Ole Nam Vet

We always hear all the negative reporting about the “gun show loophole”. In Texas, if you go to a gun show and purchase a weapon, you only have to fill out the ATF form if you purchase that weapon from a licensed dealer. You can purchase from a private citizen. Most non dealers will fill out a receipt with the buyers information and a DL number for their own paper trail.

Club Manager

What ever happened to doing things the old fashioned way and buying firearms at flea markets and on street corners? Saves a lot of paperwork and cash is always welcome.