Listen to Rosenthal admit to the straw purchase: http://wrko.podzinger.com/viewMedia.jsp?match=query,channel&filter=0&num=10&dedupe=1&start=0&il=en&col=en-all-pod_wrko-ep&q=straw+purchase&res=13110937&submitted=1&e=7717729&index=1&seek=462.729

NEWS RELEASE

SAF ASKS FEDERAL INVESTIGATION OF ALLEGED STRAW PURCHASE BY ANTI-GUNNER

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation is calling upon the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to open a criminal investigation into what may be a publicly-admitted straw purchase of a handgun in New Hampshire involving the head of a Massachusetts anti-gun organization and a columnist for the Boston Globe.

SAF Founder Alan Gottlieb said today that remarks made by John Rosenthal, head of Stop Handgun Violence and a co-founder of the anti-gun American Hunting and Shooting Association, and Globe columnist Steve Bailey during a segment on WRKO AM on July 10 “strongly suggest they were involved in an illegal gun purchase.”

“Bailey and Rosenthal traveled from Massachusetts to New Hampshire where Rosenthal reportedly asked a dealer at a gun show whether he could buy a handgun,” Gottlieb said. “When the dealer learned Rosenthal was a Massachusetts resident, he declined to sell him a gun. At that point, Rosenthal allegedly asked if a companion, who was a New Hampshire resident, could buy the gun and the dealer agreed. Rosenthal, in an interview with Gun Week, claimed that the dealer clearly knew this was a straw sale.

“The irony here,” he observed, “is that Rosenthal has tried to portray this dealer as having conducted a straw sale, but what he is also describing is a straw purchase. There are two sides to any such crime, and the buyer – and the person who initiated that purchase – would be just as criminally liable as the seller of the gun.

“We think federal authorities should find out where that gun is now, who ultimately paid for it, and whether Rosenthal, Bailey and the New Hampshire resident participated in a conspiracy to conduct this transaction,” Gottlieb noted.

“Private citizens, whether they run anti-gun organizations, write for newspapers or happen to be the anti-gun mayor of New York City, cannot conduct straw purchases or hire someone else to do it and then claim it was in the public interest,” Gottlieb concluded. “We believe a crime, or multiple crimes, may have been committed here, and we encourage the BATF to investigate. If it turns out Rosenthal, Bailey and their companion did break the law, we expect them to be prosecuted.”

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Earlier this week, John Rosenthal went on WRKO (680 AM) to discuss his new billboard overlooking the Turnpike. As part of this broadcast, he confessed to attempting to make a straw purchase (see story at http://www.goal.org/news/rosenthalcrimine.htm).

A reporter from Gun Week is writing about that story and would like to talk to persons who listened to that broadcast (Finneran's Forum), Tuesday morning on WRKO this week. If you heard the broadcast, please call Dave Workman at 800-426-4302.  Dave is up against a publishing deadline. GOAL staff wishes to reassure you that you need not have any hesitation about dealing with this reporter, as we have worked with him many times over the years.

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John Rosenthal Admits to Violating Federal Gun Law

On Tuesday, July 10, 2007 John Rosenthal, of Stop Handgun Violence and American Hunters and Shooters Association, was a guest on WRKO 680 AM “Finneran’s Forum” show. Rosenthal was on the show to discuss his organization’s new political billboard slamming the National Rifle Association.

During the show a reporter, Steve Bailey of the Boston Globe, explained how he and Rosenthal had attended a gun show in New Hampshire over a year ago. The trip was supposed to prove how easy it was for criminals to buy a handgun in New Hampshire. They actually found that it was not possible to do so without violating several laws.

Rosenthal explained that when he tried to purchase a handgun from a licensed dealer, he was told he could not because he was not a resident of New Hampshire. Bailey and Rosenthal then explained how they brought a New Hampshire resident with them, supposedly a prison guard, who was able to pass the background checks and purchase the gun for them. Bailey even stated on Finneran’s show that the Boston Globe paid for the gun. When asked by the hosts of the show if he had committed a straw purchase, Rosenthal admitted that he had indeed conducted a straw purchase to prove a point.

Unfortunately for Rosenthal, the point is that he and Bailey had to admit that it was illegal for him to go to New Hampshire and purchase a handgun. He also had to admit that the only way for him to obtain a handgun at the gun show was to do it illegally by conducting a federally prohibited straw purchase and thereby committing a felony. Unfortunately, the person most vocal in Massachusetts about increasing the restrictions on lawful gun ownership has himself committed a gun crime and will most likely never be prosecuted for it. This is yet another example of the great hypocrisy from the anti-civil rights elite.