Straw purchase penalties under federal law run up to 10 years in prison for lying on the ATF form, up to 15 years for buying a firearm for someone prohibited from having one, and up to 25 years when the gun is connected to a felony, drug trafficking, or terrorism. Fines reach $250,000. Both the person who signs for the gun at the counter and the person who ends up with it can be charged, and the crime is complete even if the intended recipient could have passed a background check on their own.
Prison Time and Fines by Statute
Two federal laws cover this conduct, and the sentence depends on which one the government charges.
- Lying on ATF Form 4473 about who the actual buyer is, under 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6): up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 – Penalties2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine
- Buying a firearm for someone you know or have reason to believe is a prohibited person, under 18 U.S.C. § 932: up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 932 – Straw Purchasing of Firearms2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine
- A straw purchase where the firearm is used in or intended for a felony, drug trafficking, or an act of terrorism: up to 25 years in prison.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 932 – Straw Purchasing of Firearms
Prosecutors can charge both statutes in the same case and often do. Any conviction leaves a permanent federal felony record, which strips the person of their own right to possess firearms and creates lasting barriers to employment, housing, and professional licensing.
What Counts as a Straw Purchase
A straw purchase is buying a firearm from a licensed dealer on behalf of another person while concealing that fact. Every buyer at a licensed dealer fills out ATF Form 4473. Question 21.a asks whether the buyer is the “actual transferee/buyer” of the firearm, and the form warns in bold that answering “yes” when you are really buying for someone else is a felony.4Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Firearms Transaction Record – ATF Form 4473
Section 922(a)(6) punishes the lie itself. Section 932, added in 2022 through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, punishes the straw transaction directly when the buyer knows or has reason to believe the real recipient is a prohibited person, intends to use the gun in a felony or drug trafficking or terrorism, or plans to pass it to someone in either of those groups.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 932 – Straw Purchasing of Firearms5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts The older false-statement law catches anyone who lies on the form. The newer statute carries a heavier penalty but requires proof about the recipient.
Why the Recipient’s Clean Record Does Not Save You
People often assume the crime depends on whether the intended recipient could have legally bought the gun. It does not. The Supreme Court decided this in Abramski v. United States in 2014. A former police officer bought a Glock for his uncle, who was fully eligible to own firearms, and argued that the lie on Form 4473 was harmless because his uncle would have passed a background check anyway.6Justia Law. Abramski v United States, 573 US 169 (2014)
In a 5–4 decision, the Court rejected that reasoning. Justice Kagan wrote that the background check system depends on the dealer knowing who is actually getting the gun. Hiding the true buyer prevented the dealer from checking the uncle’s identity, running his background check, and recording his information. The misrepresentation was material because the sale could not have legally proceeded if the dealer had known the truth.6Justia Law. Abramski v United States, 573 US 169 (2014)
The practical rule: lying about being the actual buyer at a licensed dealer is a federal crime no matter how clean the recipient’s record is.
Gifts Are Not Straw Purchases
Buying a firearm as a genuine gift is legal. Form 4473 addresses this directly. If you use your own money to buy a gun for someone as a gift, with nothing of value flowing back to you, you are the actual buyer and can truthfully answer “yes” to Question 21.a.4Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Firearms Transaction Record – ATF Form 4473
The form gives this example: if Mr. Brown uses his own money to buy a gun for Mr. Black as a gift, with Mr. Black providing nothing in return, Mr. Brown is the actual buyer. The gift is not legitimate if the recipient gave the buyer money, services, or anything of value toward the purchase, or if the recipient is prohibited from owning firearms.4Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Firearms Transaction Record – ATF Form 4473
Two questions draw the line. Who paid? And did the recipient ask you to buy it? If your friend hands you cash and tells you which pistol to pick up, that is a straw purchase even if he could have bought it himself. If you surprise your spouse with a shotgun for their birthday using your own money, that is a gift. Either way, the recipient must still be legally eligible to own firearms.
What the Recipient Faces
The person who receives the gun through a straw purchase is prosecuted separately. A prohibited person who possesses, transports, or receives a firearm faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 under 18 U.S.C. § 924.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 – Penalties That sentence runs independently of whatever the straw buyer receives, and the two can be charged in the same case or in separate cases.
For someone on federal probation or supervised release, being caught with a firearm triggers mandatory revocation of supervision. There is no judicial discretion on that point. The new felony also adds a fresh disqualifying offense on top of whatever originally made the person prohibited.
Prohibited categories under federal law include people convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment, people convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence or subject to qualifying domestic violence orders, current unlawful users of controlled substances, people formally adjudicated mentally defective or committed to a mental institution, fugitives from justice, people dishonorably discharged from the military, certain noncitizens, and people who have renounced U.S. citizenship.7Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Identify Prohibited Persons
State Charges on Top of Federal
Federal penalties are not the only exposure. Many states have their own straw purchase or illegal transfer statutes that operate alongside federal law. Most states that specifically address straw purchasing treat it as a felony, though some handle lesser related offenses as misdemeanors. A state conviction can run concurrently with or consecutively to a federal sentence, and it typically costs the buyer their firearm rights under state law as well.
State and local agencies often run task forces that work with licensed dealers to flag suspicious purchases, including buyers picking up multiple identical firearms in a short window, someone else directing the transaction from nearby, or third-party payments. Cases that start as state investigations frequently produce federal charges too, giving prosecutors flexibility in how they pursue the people involved.