Woman who bought guns charged in New York firefighter slayings

[SecularMotion]

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — William Spengler raised no alarms in prison for 17 years and for more than a decade afterward. Well-spoken, well-behaved and intelligent, his demeanor was praised by four straight parole boards that nevertheless denied him parole, worried that bludgeoning his 92-year-old grandmother with a hammer showed a violent streak that could explode again.

After his sentence was up in 1996, he stayed out of trouble until 2010, police said Friday. That's when Spengler went to a sporting goods store with a neighbor's daughter, picked out a Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle and a shotgun and had her buy the guns that the convicted felon couldn't legally possess. On Monday, he used the weapons to ambush firefighters lured to a blaze he set at his house in upstate Webster, killing two people and wounding three others before killing himself.

On Friday, state and federal authorities charged the woman who bought the guns, 24-year-old Dawn Nguyen, with lying on a form that said she would be the owner of the guns she bought for Spengler.

The charges involve the semiautomatic rifle and the 12-gauge shotgun that Spengler had with him Monday when volunteer firefighters Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka were gunned down. Three other people, including two other firefighters, were wounded before the 62-year-old Spengler killed himself. He also had a .38-caliber revolver, but Nguyen is not connected to that gun, police said.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/woman_who_bought_guns_charged.html#incart_river_default

[gejohnston]

1. I hope she gets the whole ten years

instead of the bullshit straw purchasing cases usually get. Doesn't it bother anyone that California will give someone life for ripping off a pizza, but this guy got less than that for beating his grandmother with hammer?

[Jenoch]

6. Thank goodness sentences

for crimes like killing your grandmother with a hammer are much more severe now than they were in 1980.

I agree that stiffer penalties for straw purches are key to reducing the number of guns getting into the hands of criminals.

[krispos42]

2. Good n/t

[Kaleva]

3. I wonder how many people have straw purchased guns for a neighbor, friend, family member?

It doesn't cost them anything to do so as the other person would give them the money to make the transaction. No fingerprinting or taking of a photo, no requirement to first attend a gun safety class, and no extended background check.

All it costs the straw purchaser is some time and they are probably compensated for that by the actual purchaser.

[spin]

4. That's why the penalties need to be increased. ...

Also it might be a good idea to make some public service messages saying that you will go to jail if you straw purchase a firearm.

This simple measure could possibly accomplish more to reduce gun violence in our nation than another assault weapons ban.

[Kaleva]

5. I like the public service message idea.

Educate people that making a straw purchase for someone is a felony and can get one a hefty prison sentence and/or fine.

Maybe even allow an amnesty period so those who did such a thing can let authorities know who they bought the guns for.

[Eleanors38]

8. PSAs are good ideas. The only problem is MSMs near total investment in prohibition...

A good informative PSA may not be aired by networks who see them as legitimizing citizen possession and use of firearms for lawful purposes. I believe MSM will freeze out ANY mention of firearms, unless they are used criminally, or the "story" is filtered through a gun ban group.

[spin]

9. Unfortunately you might be right. (n/t)

[Eleanors38]

10. This is my concern with the pro-2A side of things...

So much time has been spent in smashing down the anti-2As, and in expanding the legal rights of RKBA, little time has been spent on doing the good work of responsible gun-ownership, and the image of 2A rights is dominated by the NRA and the strident anti-NRA, anti-2A side. And MSM is only too willing to oblige. There are many efforts which could be made through PSAs:

(1) Proper gun storage at home;
(2) Proper introduction of guns to the young;
(3) Proper use of firearms in the field and on the range;
(4) Reminders to keep CCL licenses up to date;
(5) Publication of resources for responsible gun ownership and activities;
(6) Establishment of programs to sniff out straw buyers (like Operation Game Thief encourages reporting poaching in Texas);

...and many more. I wonder if MSM would even accept these as PAID advertising.

NOTE: Those favoring marijuana legalization have for years had both PA-type ads and outright advocacy ads in the can. But MSM would not allow these on in any form, at any price.

Prohibition requires that the smelly sin of evil, immorality, and pornography been hidden from view.

[bobclark86]

13. There are some...

like every police department in my area has stacks of gun locks to hand out.

You know who used to be really, REALLY good about gun safety information?

The NRA and gun manufacturers.

I remember reading Boy's Life (before I left for being agnostic and against gay bashing) and seeing the PSAs from Remington, Ruger and the NRA. One line really sticks out in my mind:

"All the pheasants ever bred, won't repay for one man dead."

It's from an old English poem. Ruger has it on their website (Bill Ruger Sr. was ahead of his time, with barring high-cap mags to civilians and the "No honest man needs more than 10 rounds" letter in the late 1980s... in fact, Ruger was boycotted by the die-hard crowd for years until the old man died. Plenty of people still don't buy Ruger guns over it).

[Eleanors38]

14. I get you. I'm not stuck on mag caps., though this will have little impact given VT DR

[Spryguy]

16. As well they should.

[Eleanors38]

18. Fair & Balanced, eh?

[Jenoch]

11. The person makng the straw purchase

is made aware of the penalties at the time the purchase is made. I think the penalty needs to be signficantly increased. I'm not opposed to a public service campaign, but I can see how such a csmpaign would end up being more of an anti-gun rather than anti-straw purchase campaign.

[spin]

15. While this idea will be ridiculed, I feel the NRA could make the PSAs ...

Some reports say that NRA membership is skyrocketing and the organization could ask for donations to run advertisements such as this. They probably would not be a true public service announcement but TV commercials and newspaper advertisements would get the message out.

[AtheistCrusader]

7. I've given people guns. But as gifts, not as a straw purchase.

And I know every single one of them can pass a background check. (also, all of them have CPL's)

Straw purchase penalties need to be increased, and for fucks sake, IMPOSE THE FULL PENALTY. People died as a direct result of that.

Time to make some examples of stupid people.

[bobclark86]

12. I bought my mother a rifle for Christmas a few years ago...

but since a) she's legally allowed to buy it herself, and b) it was a gift, it's not a straw purchase.

Lots of people straw purchase. A few months ago, a guy near me shot his neighbor and killed himself. They had a long-standing dispute and she had a restraining order put on him. He somehow managed to get the guns (plural) he used to shoot her, even though the court order said no. It's unknown if he passed a NICS check or if somebody just bought them for him (either is sadly very likely). Lots and lots of former drug dealers, felony DWI drivers and wife beaters have guns.

I think it's about time we start to prosecute straw purchasers (I don't have a source handy, but the last one I saw showed thousands of reports of straw purchasers annually, with only about 300 charged and about 150 actually convicted). Nobody has the money to try so many cases, which is really sad. That's what we get for making a hit of crack the same as 500 hits of cocaine and other lovely "war on drugs" laws.

[guardian]

17. I'm shocked. Shocked I say.

You mean a CRIMINAL broke the law? Quick let's pass more laws and establish more 'gun free zones'. I'm sure someone bent on murder will be terrified of having a high capacity magazine or parking in a no parking zone.

Anyone who thinks more laws will stop murderers is a total asshat.