And that is the point I am attempting to make. The scenario stated he gave his father money to buy him a non-roster hand gun, then gift it to him through a familial transfer into CA as a means to circumvent the CA law saying he can’t buy that handgun in CA directly.
The fact that he can legally own the handgun, even a non-roster handgun through the gifting, is absolutely immaterial in the violation of federal law. I think this is the confusing part.
It’s a common misconception that a straw purchase only exists if the firearm is sold to a person that can’t legally own it/one. The courts have upheld illegal “straw purchase” convictions, that is the straw purchase is illegal not the conviction, even when both parties are legally allowed to own said firearm. The violation stems from the intent of the purchase/transfer to obtain the firearm for someone else.
Even if you don’t tell anyone about it, the violation still exists because the original purchase/transfer from the FFL to the father was not legal since the father was not the buyer as stated on the 4473.
This is where the bone fide gift comes into play. Has the father used his funds to buy the handgun, with intent to gift the gun to his son, aka an actual gift. No laws are violated.
It was the part of the scenario “I give my dad money to buy me the handgun and gift it to me” that constitutes the illegal act.
In the case of Rittenhouse/Black, they testified that Black bought the rifle for Rittenhouse, with Rittenhouse’s money because the latter was under-age, with intent on giving Rittenhouse the rifle when he came of age. This is an admission of the violation, the “gifting money” then “gifting rifle” is a meager attempt to pull a “ha gotcha!” on the feds. This doesn’t really matter since Rittenhouse bought the rifle through another person, and that person stated in the 4473 that they were the buyer.
This subject is covered by both sides of the gun debate, even the NRA ILA says “watch yourself in this arena, it could be considered a straw purchase.”
if
@anotero wants to play with fire for a silly handgun, that’s on him, but the act of buying a gun through another person is illegal.