You might be surprised what an internet sting looks like. Probably not many of you outside Illinois remember this, but back when Jim Ryan was Attorney General of Illinois and was running for Governor, he decided to establish his anti-gun bona fides. (He was a Republican, but this is Chicago, and he apparently thought the best way to beat Rod Blagojevich was to agree with him on gun control.) Anyway, his office started contacting people with rifles for sale. They concentrated on "assault weapons" even though those weapons are perfectly legal, hoping to to trick people into doing something illegal in the sale. The most common trick was to assure the seller that it was legal to "part ouf" the gun and ship all the parts directly across state lines, with no FFL involved. That, of course, is a federal offense.
In the end it didn't work out very well for Ryan. He was forced to give up all his arrests when it was found that he clearly used entrapment (the transcripts are below) and he really stepped on the Feds' toes at the same time. His entrapment got a guy released who had been targeted by the Feds for selling illegal machine guns and the resulting mess tipped him off.
Exchanges between investigators and gun sellers in Ryan sting
(AP) - Here are excerpts from the e-mail exchanges, obtained through the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
Israeli Galil rifle (Gresham, Ore.)
Seller: "I'm not a dealer, just an honest citizen. I am however, aware that federal regulations require that if I transfer a firearm across state lines it must be transferred to a federal firearms license holder in the state of receipt. . . . I can't take the risk of (ticking) off the Feds. I simply have to much to lose, wife, kids, job, house, etc. I'm sure the (federal authorities) would lock me up or at the very least fine the (deleted) out of me."
AG: "I spoke to a FFL that works in the same building as I do. He said in Illinois, as long as neither of us is a FFL gun dealer all I need is a valid Fire Arms Owner Identification Card. ... I would really like to avoid the hassle and expense of going through a dealer. Why should we put money in his pocket for doing nothing but having a piece of paper?"
Seller: "Thanks for your reply to my concerns about interstate firearms transfers. I must admit that I have never done this before and don't want to be liable for doing anything illegal."
MAK 90 (Panama City, Fla.)
Seller: "It will have to be shipped through a licensed dealer to a licensed dealer."
AG: "If you are not a dealer, I believe you can ship the AK directly to me. This would cut out the expense of both of us having to pay dealers."
Seller, after reading about the federal dealer rule: "I believe it means that at least I must use a fire arms dealer from my end. Do you know the laws on this?"
AG: "We are both private citizens so you can sell to me directly."
MAK 90 (Bartlesville, Okla.)
Seller: "In checking with the local gun shop here in town the only way to sell a firearm is that it has to be sent from one FFL licensed party to another. ... I am not sure if it also applies to parts."
AG: "I do not believe parts have to go through a FFL, otherwise mail order places would be out of business."
Seller: "I just wanted to be legal about the transaction. ... I will ship as parts. Like you say, no FFL required on the parts."
MAK 90 (Forestville, N.Y.)
Seller: "I need to send it to an FFL dealer, right?"
AG: "If you are not a dealer and just a private citizen, you can sell directly to me."
Seller: "The only way you can send things via the mail over state lines is by sending to a valid FFL dealer. ... Sorry if this makes you change your mind, but I don't want to go to jail!"
AG: "How do you feel about breaking the gun down into two parts and sending them to me that way? It is definitely not illegal to send gun parts directly to an individual."
Seller: "All right. I'll break it down and send 2 packages."
The moral of the story is this: Just like fitz, you must NEVER take legal advice from a stranger! It might be a misguided kid, or it might be the Federal government. You just don't know, and your government (well, mine anyway) has proven that it doesn't mind entrapping people who honestly want to follow the law. Whoever they can convict, they will. How hard you tried to follow the law is irrelevant to them.
Halvey, you could ship parts and send the receiver through an FFL, but what would that gain you over shipping the whole gun? The frame is still going to be treated as a whole gun, with all the red tape and costs that implies, and you'll have another package to pay for and keep track of while that's going on. There is NO advantage to parting out an entire gun.
Now, if your buddy has a serviceable receiver with rusted out parts, and you've got a whole gun, then yeah, by all means, strip everything off and send it. But don't send that receiver unless it's going to an FFL. Especially not at the urging of a stranger over the internet.
Man, those transcripts still turn my stomach.
