KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — If you buy a gun for someone who isn’t allowed to have it, the top prosecutor in Knox County has a message for you — “we are coming after you,” said Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen.
In a typical week, Knox County prosecutors say they charge five adults for having a gun who shouldn’t. In all of 2023, the caseload numbered 245.
“I don’t have the juvenile numbers, but I can tell you it is a problem in our juvenile court as well,” said Allen.
In a high-profile case in 2021, prosecutors targeted an older friend of 17-year-old Anthony Thompson Jr.
Kelvon Foster, 22, admitted to lying in order to buy the 9mm pistol for the teenager at a Knoxville gun store in the spring of 2021. Thompson was carrying the pistol during a deadly confrontation with police in April 2021 inside a high school bathroom. A Knoxville officer shot and killed the teenager during a struggle.
“That weapon was at the center of everything that happened in that case. Had he not had a weapon that day, we would have a much different situation," said Allen.
Kelvon Foster was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for the crime.
A national campaign against the crime has for years warned gun buyers, “Don’t lie for the other guy,” or you risk a fine of up to $250,000 and 15 years in prison.
“…the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee vigorously prosecutes “straw-purchaser” firearms offenses,” said a statement from U.S. Attorney Francis M. (Trey) Hamilton III.
The Knoxville U.S. Attorney's Office offered a half dozen recent examples of prosecutions for the crime including the Kelvon Foster case and United States v. Saine, No. 2:21-cr-109 where an East Tennessee woman was sentenced to 21 months in prison for “…Lying On ATF Form To Purchase Firearms And Providing Firearms To A Felon,” according to the headline of the press release on May 1, 2023.
“It’s a big problem,” said Don Bosch, veteran defense attorney and WBIR-TV legal analyst.
But Bosch said “straw buyers” land at No. 3 on his list of the most common ways someone forbidden from having a gun gets one.
“Most of the guns on the street that are being used for nefarious purposes are either just an individual getting it from a friend, an acquaintance…borrowing it, or stealing it,” said Bosch.
“Straw buyers aren’t as big a problem as stolen guns,” said Rashaad Woods, who helps oversee the Knoxville chapter of the national gang intervention program ReNOUNce DeNOUNce.
Woods devotes his days to working with young people to find ways to avoid violence and make thoughtful and responsible choices intended to seed a positive future.
“Access to -- and individuals with -- guns are a big problem right now. You have people that don’t have mature minds. Anytime a person with an immature mind has a gun, it’s a problem,” said Woods.
