LISTEN: Dubbed “Don't lie for the other guy,” the campaign raises awareness of a lesser-known federal gun crime. GPB's Benjamin Payne reports.
The Justice Department has launched a public awareness campaign meant to crack down on the illegal purchasing of firearms for people who are legally prohibited from owning them.
Straw purchasing, as it is known, is a felony punishable by up to 15 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
Spreading the message “don't lie for the other guy,” the campaign is making its way to “screens of all sizes,” said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Beau Kolodka, including more than 30 digital billboards and retail monitors, as well as online public service announcements.
“At first glance, it seems like a victimless crime,” Kolodka said at a Wednesday news conference in Savannah. “But these guns are often used in criminal activities and could result in a death or injury to a family member, to a son, to a daughter, a brother, sister, a neighbor or a friend. The straw purchasers must bear responsibility of the violent crimes committed with a gun that they purchased and subsequently allowed to go into the illegal market.”
At least 57% of guns sourced in Georgia between 2017 and 2021 that were used in the commission of a crime were purchased by someone other than the possessor, according to ATF data.
The actual percentage is likely higher, as another 32% of guns had a known purchaser but an unknown possessor. Only 10% of guns were confirmed to be purchased and possessed by the same person.
Referring to straw purchasing, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia Jill Steinberg said, “Even if it's rationalized as an innocent act to help a friend, the result is the same: [a] gun in the hands of someone who shouldn't have one, whether it's a felon, a person with a domestic violence protective order or an individual with a serious mental illness who should not have a gun. That all makes our communities less safe.”
Kolodka brought up a 2022 case in which two people in Statesboro bought 17 firearms for a family member in New York who was a convicted felon. One of the guns was later used in a murder in Brooklyn, Kolodka said.
Savannah Police Chief Lenny Gunther, whose department is a partner in the new public awareness campaign, said, “There is no one solution to gun violence. It's a complex and multifaceted challenge. That said, there's one thing that will immediately yield positive results. That step is this: keep guns out of the hands of people who have no legal right to have them.”
A bipartisan gun safety bill signed by President Joe Biden in 2022 added new criminal offenses for straw purchasing and other gun trafficking crimes, which have since been used to charge more than 500 defendants as of June.
