My LGS is very keen on straw purchases. My wife and I were shopping for a gun for her. It was a present, so she wanted me to pay for it.
Minor ruckus until we showed them our id's and swore she was legal to buy a gun.
We did the paperwork in her name and used her credit card just to put everybody at ease.
None of the gun stores my wife and I frequent are that "keen" about it. The fact is, I can't even remember the last time I've written out a check for
anything. My wife carries and uses the checkbook - I don't. It's a joint account anyway, so I don't know what difference it makes.
At any rate, the way it usually goes if I'm the one purchasing the gun is like this: my wife writes out the check while I'm filling out the paperwork. And if she's the one purchasing the gun, she writes out the check after she's filled out the paperwork and the person behind the counter is doing
their part. Both my wife and I have CCW licenses, and in Idaho, CCW licenses take the place of phone-in background checks.
Purchasing the Ruger "American Rimfire" for my wife's birthday last year was just a little different. I knew my wife had been looking for a Ruger "American Rimfire" like that one for a while, and I was in Sportsman's Warehouse by myself when I spotted it. So I actually called my wife with my cell phone (she was over in Fred Meyer's grocery shopping) and told her to come over to Sportsman's.
She filled out the paperwork that time, but I put the purchase on the credit card I carry in
my wallet. It's a joint credit card account anyway, so like I said - I don't know what difference it makes. And it apparently
didn't make any difference to the Sportsman's Warehouse people.
BTW - a month or so later, my wife wrote out the check to pay
our credit card bill which included the Ruger "American Rimfire" purchase.