Slayings spotlight Fla. gun laws [View all]

[SecularMotion]

OLDSMAR, Fla. — On probation for misdemeanor battery and for carrying a knife to his high school, Benjamin Bishop had no way to legally purchase the 12-gauge shotgun authorities say he used to kill his mother and her boyfriend Sunday.

Instead, the 18-year-old Oldsmar resident gave $279 to a friend, who bought the gun for him, sheriff's deputies said.

Under the laws of the state of Florida, that friend did not commit a crime.

The chilling double-murder of Imari Shibata and Kelley Allen at their home in Oldsmar has called attention to a little scrutinized aspect of Florida's gun laws: the absence of penalties for so-called "straw buyers" who knowingly purchase firearms for others prohibited from owning them.

http://www.policeone.com/juvenile-crime/articles/6026946-Slayings-spotlight-Fla-gun-laws/