I'd find another shop. My best friend gave me a 1911 for my 50th and did it the exact way you described. Zero issues. The shop/range I got it at even gave me free range time with the purchase.
Not sure what state you live in but in Indiana, it's very common. The local Knights of Columbus has a raffle every month for a gun. Last month it was a Henry Golden boy. The month before that was a Remington 1100.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Atf-f-4473-1.pdf 11a. "Warning: You are not the actual buyer if you are acquiring the firearm(s) on behalf of another person. If you are not the actual buyer, the dealer cannot transfer the firearm(s) to you." Sounds like you can buy and decide you don't want it any longer, then sell as appropriate in your state, or give money/gift card and let him buy.
We would keep the guns in my buddies truck and then when school was out we would load up in my Jeep with the top and doors off and go hunt groundhogs. All the locals knew the deal and thought it was great, probably a different reaction today.
and the local student PETA, Groundhog Lives Matter, Groundhog Justice Warriors and Tofu hugging groups would block all the highways to protest your white privilege and hate crime.
He doesn't want the firearm transferred to him, he wants to pay for it and have the recipient go in for the background check. I don't see that as a straw purchase. The whole concept of the straw purchase is to circumvent the background check requirement.
Logistics of doing this aside, that's really cool that you're doing this. Minds would be blown if someone did that in my workplace.
Just curious, what's the acceptable length of time that would be needed to pass in order for a transaction to not be considered a straw purchase assuming the OP was the purchaser and was the one that did the background check?
That's weird. I bought a rifle the other day and i did the paper work but used Dad's credit card, shop didn't care one bit. He owed me the same amount of money as the rifle so to settle up I just used his card to get something I wanted.
Sounds like a paranoid corporation. Which I totally understand. Corporate rules to take away the decision making process from the employees.
I've had a similar problem with Bass Pro last year when I tried to buy a shotgun for my Dad. They were unwilling to ship it to an FFL where he could pick it up. I bought him a 1911 for Christmas this year at a local gun shop in Texas and they shipped it no problem at all. State laws get complicated quickly especially when more than one state is involved; I'm not sure why Bass Pro is hard to deal with. If I were you I'd just buy the gun and give it to him. If you trust him enough to gift him a gun in the first place I don't see why Bass Pro needs to get involved. Should there be a significant emotional event with the gun down the road I would find it highly unlikely your purchase and gift would make you liable. That is of course this isn't all part of a grand plan to rob a bank or murder an ex wife, then you're on your own.
If I'm a gun store and some random person calls me up and asks to do this, I'm saying no way in hell too. What if that faceless person over the phone is an ATF agent, leftie news reporter looking for a story, or who knows what else setting me up. The transaction might be perfectly legit but to have someone call me up and start asking for a transaction that might skirt strawman purchase laws, I'm going to assume that someone is trying to set me up. Self preservation is more important than hurting someone's feelings over a $100 profit, and I would value my livelihood and life outside of a jail cell more than taking a chance on a transaction. I don't see how that is too difficult to understand.
