Indiana Cop Arrests Two in Dumbest Straw Buy Attempt Ever

In this Bearing Arms article, Tom Knighton highlights an almost comically foolish alleged straw-purchase attempt in Indiana while arguing that illegal gun trafficking is usually far harder to catch than this case made it look.

• Two men reportedly approached a plainclothes Bloomington police detective in a Rural King parking lot and asked him to buy them a handgun.
• According to the cited affidavit, they allegedly admitted they were too young to legally purchase the firearm themselves and offered about $400.
• The detective says they repeatedly asked him to buy the handgun and then “gift” it to them afterward.
• Once the detective identified himself as a Bloomington Police Department officer who also works with the ATF, one of the men allegedly ran away.
• Knighton notes that straw purchases are felonies, and so is trying to get someone else to commit one.
• The article mocks the sheer recklessness of asking a random stranger in a parking lot to commit a federal gun crime.
• Knighton argues that most real straw buyers or traffickers are much more careful, often using people they know or buying guns in ways that are harder for sellers to detect.
• The piece frames the incident as both absurd and instructive: enforcing existing gun laws can work, but criminals are not usually this obvious.

Read the full story: https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2026/05/21/indiana-cop-arrests-two-in-dumbest-straw-buy-attempt-ever-n1232608