IMO the ATF needs to go away........ it's a useless federal agency.

The facts
 

Since he was tried and convicted I would have hoped all the facts came out during the trial.

I agree, you should have seen the last joint opn we did with them. They were like the key stone cops. So messed up that I was furious. We stepped up and had to take over part of the opn to keep it from going south.

Pete

I agree but there are things that do not get brought out and or are not needed to be used in court. They could have more like he was a CS for ATF and that is why he was not brought up on charges.

Looking at the write up in the paper it does not look fair. This may have been the final act that ATF needed to file charges. They may have other Intel that Paul Copeland had been doing illegal sails. We just do not know. I can tell you that when we file charges we only use the info that is required to get the indictment. You always hold more info just in case.

I am not judging Paul Copeland or the ATF case as I do not have enough info. It is so easy to make it look like you are not doing the sale properly. I think it is bull that after they talked and sold the gun he handed it to another person, Copeland told him to give it back and after they walked away he handed if back out of site of Mr Copeland. That is the part I have problems with. I feel that Copeland did not have the best of a defense lawyer and that may have caused him to go to jail. What are the rules/laws for gun shows in TX? Does the individual have to maintain control until he is out of the facility? Does the dealer have to follow him out to make sure he does not had it off to someone else? These are things I would need to know to better understand the TX procedure. I know in many states the person that buys the gun has to carry it out of the shop and at that point there is no expectation of the gun store being liable at that point.

An alternative viewpoint
 

I've taken three ladies and a youngster (nephew just under 30) to a licensed dealer to buy their first handgun. In each case, the potential purchases passed between me and the purchaser several times a we discussed grip, suitability, and feel for their particular physique and intended usage .

In each case, though the actual new owner paid for the weapon, I left the store with it in my custody since I have a CPL, and the state laws are subject to interpretation by the individual LEO.

I imagine there are a number of legitimate instances when a non-english-speaking person has accompanied a friend to buy a firearm.

How would the dealer know the situation for certain, and with all the EEO cases, could he afford *not* to sell the weapon to someone because they had a hispanic friend along?

Paul Copeland is not an FFL. He is a private citizen who sold a firearms to someone who was buying it for someone else. That is why all that was shown was a drivers license, not the EZcheck phone call and 4473 that a dealer would have had to use to sell.


D.

I'm a little confused. If the gun show was closed to everyone but dealers and Copeland wasn't a dealer, why was he selling?

Perhaps only dealers could have tables which does not exclude individual private sales.

I don't know his relationship with the Saxet Gun Show or why he was selling there if he wasn't a dealer. I think it is an important distinction to make though as he was a citizen selling a gun not an FFL dealer. He was just a dude who sold a gun to someone who had a Texas Driver's License. Just like lots of us have done over the years. When that someone turned out to be an illegal and strawpurchaser, said dude goes to jail. Being the only person at the show that wasn't filling out 4473's, I am sure that there was probably a line of likely "candidates" at his booth.


Respecfully submitted,

D.