There is a familiar disconnect in America’s crime debate. Gun control politicians demand ever more restrictions on law-abiding gun owners and the lawful firearm industry while criminals — and those who illegally put firearms into their hands — too often receive remarkably lenient treatment.
The latest example comes from Wisconsin, where an Obama-appointed federal judge acknowledged that an illegal straw purchase produced what he called the “worst-case and most tragic outcome,” but then handed down a far too lenient sentence.
‘Worst-Case’ Crime, Minimal Time
Jade McClaren, 42, of Rock Springs, Wisconsin pleaded guilty to lying during the purchase of a firearm after admitting she bought a handgun for Brandon Bent, an individual she knew couldn’t legally purchase one himself. That’s the textbook definition of an illegal straw purchase.
This wasn’t a case where the consequences of the straw purchase were theoretical, either.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin, U.S. District Judge William Conley found that McClaren knew Bent was dangerous and bought the handgun for him anyway. Bent was subsequently charged in Sauk County with first-degree intentional homicide.
Federal prosecutors described the case as precisely why straw purchasing poses such a serious threat to public safety. Judge Conley agreed. So what was the sentence he handed down to McLaren? The answer is an abysmal one year and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. That’s far less than the allowable 15 years and up to $250,000 fine that could have been given. NSSF supported raising the penalties for illegal straw purchases and creating a standalone federal crime for straw purchasing.
Judge Conley was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin by President Barack Obama in 2009 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2010. President Obama praised his “judgment, intellect, and integrity” when announcing the nomination.
That judgment is difficult to square with a sentence of barely more than a year after finding that McClaren knowingly and illegally put a firearm into the hands of someone she knew was dangerous.
NSSF has repeatedly warned about the consequences when the criminal justice system goes soft on illegal straw purchasers, highlighting cases from earlier this year in which repeat straw purchasers received lenient treatment despite supplying firearms that later turned up in serious crimes. The point remains the same: laws intended to stop criminals from illegally obtaining firearms accomplish little if those who deliberately circumvent them are not held meaningfully accountable.
Harris Had No Answer Either
The disconnect isn’t confined to courtrooms.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, now leading much of the early national polling for the 2028 Democrat presidential nomination, demonstrated the same misplaced focus during a September 2024 National Association of Black Journalists interview.
Asked specifically what she would do about criminal misuse of handguns — after moderator Tonya Mosley noted FBI data showing handguns accounted for 59 percent of murders and that most are illegally obtained — the former vice president immediately pivoted to demanding a ban on so-called “assault weapons.”
Mosley redirected her.
“I’m asking specifically about handguns,” she said, noting that many firearms used criminally weren’t lawfully purchased in the first place. Mosley got more word salad and no answer.
That should have been the opening for a former prosecutor to talk about enforcing existing laws against criminals and those who illegally supply them with firearms. Instead, Former Vice President Harris returned to universal background checks and the supposed “gun show loophole” before eventually acknowledging that many firearms used in homicides are illegally acquired.
That distinction matters. Criminal acquisition of firearms is a law-enforcement problem. The answer isn’t imposing another restriction on someone who obeys the law. It is enforcing the laws against those who don’t.
The Industry Has Been Doing Its Part for 26 Years
Meanwhile, NSSF’s Don’t Lie for the Other Guy campaign, conducted in partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Department of Justice, is now in its 26th year. The program warns prospective straw purchasers in unmistakable terms that lying to illegally purchase a firearm for someone else is a serious federal crime that carries stiff penalties.
The campaign has been deployed in dozens of cities across the country, using public service announcements through billboards, metro and transit posters, radio ads and digital advertising, as well as other outreach to prevent illegal firearm purchases before they happen. It also helps ATF to train and educate firearm retailers and their staff on possible warning signs of straw purchases. The industry has invested millions of dollars in that effort because firearm retailers serve as the first line of defense, watching for suspicious transactions and refusing sales when something isn’t right.
That commitment continues this week.
ATF Director Robert Cekada, NSSF President and CEO Joe Bartozzi, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and state and local law enforcement officials gathered in Palm Beach County, Fla., to launch the latest Don’t Lie campaign. The message will again be straightforward: the consequences for illegally purchasing a firearm for someone else are serious and come with stiff penalties.
At least, they are supposed to be.
The Buck Should Stop at the Bench
The firearm industry can educate the public. Firearm retailers can identify and stop suspicious purchases. ATF agents and police officers can investigate and arrest them. Federal prosecutors can bring cases in court.
But eventually someone has to impose the consequences.
When a judge determines that a defendant knowingly supplied a firearm to a dangerous prohibited person, calls the result the “worst-case and most tragic outcome” of straw purchasing and follows that finding with a sentence measured at one year and one day, the deterrent message becomes considerably harder to deliver.
There are already laws against straw purchasing. The firearm industry has spent more than a quarter-century helping law enforcement try to prevent it.
It isn’t too much to expect the criminal justice system to treat the crime as seriously as everyone keeps saying it should.
To punish the oppressors and protect the oppressed of course. Duh.
That’s what selective enforcement in the woke era is all about.