Abramski v. United States
Abramski v. United States | |
---|---|
Holding | |
It is a federal crime to act as a straw buyer of a gun, even when the true buyer can buy the gun lawfully. | |
Court membership | |
| |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Kagan, joined by Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor |
Dissent | Scalia, joined by Roberts, Thomas, Alito |
Laws applied | |
18 U.S.C. §§ 922(a)(6); 924(a)(1)(A) |
Abramski v. United States, 573 U.S. 169 (2014), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court found that making arrangements for a straw purchase of a gun is in violation of the Gun Control Act of 1968, and is different from re-selling or gifting a previously purchased gun. In the Abramski case, a former police officer from Virginia took advantage of a local discount to buy a gun for his uncle and later transferred it to Pennsylvania—the uncle's residence—using the appropriate federal procedure. During the purchase, Abramski falsely declared that he was purchasing the gun for himself.
Initially, Abramski's defense was that (a) the misrepresentation was not material since his uncle was legally capable of making the purchase himself, and (b) since the answer to the question of whether he was purchasing the gun for himself was not required to be kept on the
Background
Statutory background
The Gun Control Act of 1968 regulates the sale and transfer of guns. Section 922(a)(6) of the act makes it unlawful for any person acquiring a gun from a gun dealer to "knowingly ... make any false or fictitious ... written statement ... likely to deceive" the dealer, "with respect to any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale."[1] Section 924(a)(1)(A) of the same act, makes it unlawful and provides a penalty for anyone who "knowingly makes any false statement or representation with respect to the information required by this chapter to be kept in the records of a firearms dealer under this chapter."[2] These provisions of the Act only apply to purchasers in the "primary market," that is purchasers buying guns from gun dealers. The provisions do not apply to the "secondary market," that is second hand guns sold or gifted by a private party.[4]
Factual background
Bruce Abramski, a former
Procedural history
After being indicted by a grand jury, Abramski moved to dismiss the indictment. Abramski claimed that: (1), his misrepresentation on Question 11.a. was not "material to the lawfulness of the sale," under § 922(a)(6), since Alvarez was able to lawfully purchase the gun; and (2), since the answer to Question 11.a. is not "required ... to be kept in the records" of the gun dealer, the false statement is not in violation of §924(a)(1)(A).[citation needed] The District Court denied both motions,[10] and Abramski entered a conditional guilty plea, where he reserved the right to challenge the sentence.[5] Abramski was then sentenced to five years of probation on every count.[citation needed] The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the District Court's conviction.[11][8]
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court noted that the Fifth Circuit agreed with Abramski's claim that falsifying the answer to Question 11.a is not considered material, if the true-buyer can legally buy and possess the gun. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve a
Opinion of the Court
The Court held that despite not mentioning the words "straw buyers", the federal gun law that regulates transactions with "persons" or "transferees" considers the "persons" or "transferees" to be the ones getting the gun at the end of the day, not the straw persons completing the transaction on their behalf.
The Court further stated that although congress allowed the resale and gifting of a gun by an individual, without requiring form or background checks, that is not proof that congress did not care about straw buyers. "Yes, Congress decided to regulate dealers' sales, while leaving the secondary market for guns largely untouched ... And yes, that choice (like pretty much everything Congress does) was surely a result of compromise. But no, straw arrangements are not a part of the secondary market, separate and apart from the dealer's sale."[18] The Court also rejected Abramski's claim that since Alvarez was able to buy the gun legally on his own the misrepresentation is not material, stating: "Abramski's false statement was material because had he revealed that he was purchasing the gun on Alvarez's behalf, the sale could not have proceeded under the law—even though Alvarez turned out to be an eligible gun owner. The sale, as an initial matter, would not have complied with §922(c)'s restrictions on absentee purchases."[19] The court held that Abramski's case is analogous to a situation where a person that can buy a gun legally buys a gun under an alias. Such misrepresentation is material regardless of the fact that the buyer may purchase a gun legally, and the theory of "no harm, no foul" should not apply.[20] Finally, the Court rejected Abramski's claim that the misrepresentation is not in violation of §924, because it is not part of what the dealer is statutorily required to maintain on his record. The Court held that §924 requires the dealer to maintain information "required by this chapter", and that ATF Form 4473 is required by this chapter.[21]
Accordingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Fourth Circuit against Abramski.[22]
Dissent
Dissenting, Justice Scalia would have held that although Abramski made a false statement by claiming that he was the buyer/transferee, since Alvarez was lawfully able to buy the gun, the statement is not "with respect to any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale," which is the requirement in §922(a)(6).[1] Additionally, the dissent criticized the government's use of the "agency law" principle to determine that Abramski was a third party's common-law agent for Alvarez. Instead, the dissent believed that common English should be used to interpret statutes, and therefore, under the statute, Abramski was the "person" buying the gun, not Alvarez.[23] Furthermore, the dissent did not think that the statute is "rendered meaningless" simply because one can buy a gun on behalf of another, just like it is not rendered meaningless when one gifts a gun. The dissent also wondered why the majority wouldn't agree that this is yet another loophole to a statute that has so many loopholes, and argued that perhaps it was Congress' intent to only limit the actual person at the counter. The dissent also stated that even if the majority had the proper interpretation of the statute, the ambiguity should be resolved in favor of lenity.[24] Regarding the Section 924 charges, the dissent explained that the statute clearly lists what the dealer is required to maintain on record, and that the answer to the question of whether he is the actual buyer is not on the list. The dissent stated that the majority's interpretation ultimately carried the text too far. "[I]f the bureaucrats responsible for creating Form 4473 decided to ask about the buyer's favorite color, a false response would be a federal crime."[25] Justice Scalia concluded with the statement:
The Court makes it a federal crime for one lawful gun owner to buy a gun for another lawful gun owner. Whether or not that is a sensible result, the statutes Congress enacted do not support it—especially when, as is appropriate, we resolve ambiguity in those statutes in favor of the accused. I respectfully dissent.[26]
Responses and analysis
Although not considered a "ground breaking rule" by some law reviewers,
See also
- Firearm case law in the United States
- Gun law in the United States
- List of United States Supreme Court cases
- List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 573
- List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Roberts Court
- Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume
References
- ^ a b c .
- ^ a b .
- ^ a b John R. Lott, What the Supreme Court still doesn't understand about guns, Fox News (June 25, 2014) (Archive)
- ^ Abramski v. United States, 573 U.S. 169, 186 (2014).
- ^ a b c d e What? Straw Purchase a Gun? Abramski v. US, Daily Kos (January 6, 2014) (Archive)
- ^ a b Abramski v. United States, Oyez (June 16, 2014)
- ^ Abramski, 573 U.S. at 175.
- ^ a b c Donald Scarinci, Abramski v. United States: Supreme Court Rules Against Straw Purchaser in Gun Case Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, Constitutional Law Reporter (August 7, 2014)
- ^ a b c d Supreme Court Grants BATFE Broad Leeway on "Straw Purchase" Rules in Abramski v. United States, NRA Institute for Legislative Action (November 7, 2014) (Archive
- W.D. Va.2011).
- 4th Cir.2013).
- ^ Abramski, 573 U.S. at 176-77.
- ^ a b Brief of The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, American Bar Association (last visited April 21, 2016)
- ^ a b Abramski v. United States Archived 2016-03-25 at the Wayback Machine, Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence (last visited April 21, 2016)
- ^ "Hawaii amicus brief" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 11, 2023.
- ^ Abramski, 573 U.S. at 179.
- ^ a b Abramski, 573 U.S. at 182.
- ^ a b c Abramski, 573 U.S. at 183.
- ^ Abramski, 573 U.S. at 189.
- ^ Abramski, 573 U.S. at 190.
- ^ Abramski, 573 U.S. at 191-92.
- ^ Abramski, 573 U.S. at 193
- ^ Abramski, 573 U.S. at 197-97 (Scalia, J., dissenting.)
- ^ Abramski, 573 U.S. at 203-04 (Scalia, J., dissenting).
- ^ Abramski, 573 U.S. at 206(Scalia, J., dissenting).
- ^ Abramski, 573 U.S. at 207 (Scalia, J., dissenting).
- ^ Benjamin Goad, Supreme Court rules that 'straw' purchases of guns are illegal, The Hill, (June 16, 2014)(Archive)
- ^ Jennifer Fuson, U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Law Prohibiting "Straw Purchasing" of Guns, Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence (June 16, 2014)(Archive)
- ^ Adam Winkler, Maybe the Supreme Court Isn't as Pro-Gun as We Thought, New Republic (June 16, 2014) (Archive)
- ^ a b Abramski v. United States, Harvard Law Review (Nov 10, 2014)
External links
- Text of Abramski v. United States, 573 U.S. 169 (2014) is available from: Google Scholar Justia Oyez (oral argument audio) Supreme Court (slip opinion) (archived)