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What is straw purchasing firearms? Here's what authorities, gun shop owners are seeing locally - YouTube
Channel: WTKR News 3
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we don't want any crimes happening with
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firearms
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we don't like illegal activity with
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firearms steve dowdy is the owner of
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bob's gun shop in norfolk that's a
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taurus nine millimeter it's a g2 one of
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our more popular guns
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for more than 75 years the store has
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helped supply hampton roads gun owners
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but dowdy and his team are also keeping
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an eye out making sure their firearms
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don't fall into the wrong hands nobody
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wants people that aren't supposed to
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have guns to get them dowdy and others
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are raising awareness about what's
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called straw purchasing straw purchasing
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is when an individual acquires a product
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for a third party that the third party
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would normally not be able to legally
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purchase or acquire themselves raj
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parikh is the acting u.s attorney for
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virginia's eastern district disrupting
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the flow of illegally trafficked
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firearms is critical to reducing the
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painful toll that gun violence inflicts
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on our communities and our loved ones i
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can tell you
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straw purchasing is on the rise we first
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heard the term last year when talking
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with norfolk police chief larry boone
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about tracking guns in hampton roads
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parks says straw purchasing of firearms
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poses a significant threat to
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communities because it places guns in
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the hands of unlicensed and potentially
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dangerous individuals a recent case from
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the hampton roads area involving two men
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omar lawrence and hassan radi he
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enlisted
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the help of omar lawrence who is also
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from the region
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and i should mention he was a sergeant
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in the u.s army reserves he had no
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criminal record and rudy enlisted
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lawrence to be his straw purchaser parks
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says lawrence over time straw purchased
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43 firearms for redeemed parks says
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through their investigation of those 43
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firearms illegally straw purchased in
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hampton roads six were tied to crimes
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four in philadelphia and one each in
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baltimore and virginia beach the
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philadelphia cases involved two
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shootings and two other incidents
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resulting in gun charges park tells us
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the gun used in one of the philadelphia
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cases was a drive-by shooting that was
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found in a stolen car in new jersey it
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really illustrates the point that
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although straw purchasers often do not
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know where the firearms they illegally
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purchase will end up or how they will be
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used that's what makes this crime so
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dangerous park says atf agents
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investigated the guns recovered by
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philadelphia police and it was
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collaboration between his office the atf
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fbi and other agencies that led to
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lawrence and reduced prosecution serial
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numbers then can be traced back to the
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original purchaser
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and that gives us intelligence on you
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know where did this gun come from who
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purchased it where did they purchase it
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when the firearms were recovered in
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these philadelphia crimes
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the serial numbers from the weapons they
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were loaded into an atf database
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and the atf agents soon learned that
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lawrence bought the guns at federally
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licensed gun dealerships in hampton
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roads officials were able to seize 30
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unlawfully acquired weapons trafficked
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by the two earlier this year lawrence
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was sentenced to 78 months and redeemed
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57 months in prison and because of our
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collective efforts these defendants
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received significant sentences and the
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straw gun networks that they contributed
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to
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were dealt a critical blow prohibited
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possessor of a firearm is anything it
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could be rifle shotgun or handgun gotcha
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meanwhile dowdy says his shop has ways
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to seek out potential straw purchasers
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it's very hard to determine you know a
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lot of times if somebody is straw
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purchasing you know we'll have two
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people in the store at the same time and
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one tries to buy it and finds out that
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he you know he can't purchase maybe he's
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not a state resident does it look like
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somebody's picking it out and another
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person is buying it that's that's the
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big thing that we look for he tells me
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atf officials work with his store to
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educate their staff on straw purchasing
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but what do local law enforcement see
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eight times out of ten
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those guns that are used in a crime are
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illegal guns when we return you have to
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say
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well how'd they get the damn gun to
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start with
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