US supreme court debates background check laws in anonymous gun sale case

By artappraiser on Wed, 01/22/2014 - 10:56pm |

Justices to rule on whether Virginia man acted illegally when he bought gun for relative in Pennsylvania
Associated Press in Washington, 22 Jan. 2014

The US supreme court is debating whether the purchase of a gun by a Virginia man for a relative in Pennsylvania can be considered illegal when both men were legally eligible to purchase firearms.

The justices heard an appeal from Bruce James Abramski Jr, a former police officer. Abramski bought a Glock 19 handgun in Collinsville, Virginia, in 2009 and transferred ownership of it to his uncle in Easton, Pennsylvania, who paid him $400.

Abramski was arrested after police thought he was involved in a bank robbery. No charges were ever filed, but officials charged him with making false statements about the purchase of the gun [....]

URL:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/22/supreme-court-debates-anonymous-gun-sales

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Argument preview: Checking up on gun buyers

The Justice Department urged the Court not to hear the petition, even while conceding that there was some conflict in the lower courts on the scope of the “straw purchaser” law.

Among amici, Abramski has the support of twenty-six states and the territory of Guam, and of a variety of gun owners’ associations, including the NRA.

http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/01/argument-preview-checking-up-on-gun-buyers/

Case of Abramski v. United States.

Supreme Court Grants Cert in Abramski v. United States

Posted on January 17, 2014

http://www.nraila.org/legal/articles/2014/supreme-court-grants-cert-in-abramski-v-united-states.aspx

by Resistance on Thu, 01/23/2014 - 1:18am

Argument recap: When compromise is the problem

Samuel A. Alito, Jr., conjured up the image of a “Mr. Straw” running a very busy gun-buying operation that showed how easy it was to get around the law. So, Alito said, Congress did something “utterly meaningless.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, with a note of despair in her voice, wondered aloud whether the law was so unclear that it just meant “a buyer is a buyer is a buyer.” She suggested that, if the law were that opaque, could a buyer sell a gun to a person barred from having it? Dietz said there were other laws to take care of that.

Perhaps the low moment for Palmore was when Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., noted that the language in the law had been “fought over, tooth and nail” by the opposing sides in the gun control debate, and that the compromise which resulted simply had nothing to do with the idea of a “straw purchaser.” That, of course, was one of attorney Dietz’s main talking points.

http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/01/argument-recap-when-compromise-is-the-problem/

by Resistance on Thu, 01/23/2014 - 1:27am

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