Gun 'Straw Purchaser' Gets Long Prison Sentence in Delaware County
By Paul Kurtz and David Spunt
MEDIA, Pa. (CBS) -- A Chester, Pa. woman today became the first person to feel the effects of a new Pennsylvania law that contains tougher penalties for those who make gun "straw purchases" -- buying a firearm on behalf of a convicted felon, who would not legally be allowed to purchase a gun on his or her own.
Despite having no prior criminal record, 22-year-old Staci Dawson received a sentence of 6-12 years in prison for buying two guns for her boyfriend, a felon.
She was convicted in August under the 2013 law named for Brad Fox, a Plymouth Township police officer murdered by a man who used a straw-purchased gun.
Fox's parents, Tom and Kathy, were in court for the sentencing.
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"This was actually a good day," Kathy Fox said. "We don't have many of those anymore. But I have to consider this a good one."
"Maybe this will send a message to a lot of the people out there thinking, 'I can make a couple hundred bucks off this,' " said Tom Fox. "Well, is a couple hundred bucks worth five or six years in jail?"
Tom adds, "What I want out of this law is so that another family doesn't have to go through what we've gone through."
Under the Brad Fox law, anyone found guilty a second time of buying a gun and then giving or selling it to a felon would receive a mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years.
"I feel for his (Fox's) family, and the law that they have on the books, but that didn't pertain to my daughter," Mark Dawson said after his daughter's sentencing.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan said the Dawson case is a perfect example of a straw purchase.
"If you purchase a firearm and you give that firearm to a convicted felon, we are going to prosecute you," he said.
Tom Fox says his son's work will continue.
"I'm glad to see that Brad is still working," Fox said.
Tom and Kathy Fox say they hope to turn the Brad Fox Law into a national law.
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