Lower Bucks Man Faces 20 Years In Prison For Straw Gun Purchases

LOWER BUCKS COUNTY, PA —A 25-year-old man who made several straw purchases of firearms at Bucks County gun stores was sentenced on Friday to serve up to two decades in a state correctional institution, authorities said.

Cody Kirk McInnis, of Bristol Township, pleaded guilty in August to 12 felony counts of making false statements on firearm purchase forms, 11 counts each of firearm ownership – duty of other persons and filing false reports, and two counts of criminal conspiracy. the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said.

Besides a state prison sentence of 10 to 20 years, Common Pleas Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. ordered that McInnis not possess or own firearms and ammunition.

In court Friday, McInnis admitted to selling the firearms to others but denied remembering who he sold them to.

The investigation was conducted by the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Newark Field Division.

The investigation found that on several occasions between July 1, 2021, and Oct. 5, 2021, McInnis entered gun stores in Bucks County, purchased firearms, and filled out paperwork that indicated he was purchasing the firearms for himself.

Investigators concluded that he straw purchased 11 firearms, and one rifle lower receiver at gun stores in Bristol Township and Middletown Township.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives defines a straw purchase as buying a firearm for someone who is prohibited by law from possessing one, or for someone who doesn't want their name associated with it.

Since McInnis purchased the firearms, multiple have been recovered in suspicious circumstances or from people prohibited from possessing firearms.

He also claimed he sold some of the firearms back to the gun stores and another was stolen, however, the investigation concluded that he never reported any gun stolen or sold them back to the gun stores.