Beware of who you are selling to...

[OneGuy67]

Hypothetically if he called the cops on the spot and said they tried to buy the rifle with fake identities, could they have been arrested and charged? Would the local PD or sheriff actually show up?

If the OP hadn't recognized Julie Hayden and sold her a firearm, did either violate anything?

The law states, a private citizen may sell or transfer a firearm or ammunition to another private citizen without conducting the transaction through a licensed gun dealer, so long as both parties are citizens of Colorado and the seller reasonably knows the purchaser is not a prohibited person from owning firearms.

If the OP had called law enforcement, they would have showed up no matter if it was PD or SO. To be arrested and charged, they would have had to violate a state statute. Which one do you think they violated? You mentioned fake identities; did they present fraudulent documents or just give the OP a name other than their real name? Do you think that a private citizen telling another private citizen a different name other than their own is a crime? Because, if that is a crime, then a WHOLE lot of us would have committed a crime when we were younger and looking to pick up girls in bars with a false name!

I'm not looking to be confrontational in this. I wholeheartedly disagree with 'surprise journalism'.

[spongejosh]

Do you think that a private citizen telling another private citizen a different name other than their own is a crime?

I'm not a lawyer but I believe lying in order to buy a firearm is a crime. Also if the reporter lives in Denver they would have been lying to get around the Denver ban. If the seller didn't recognize the reporter, he wouldn't have Knowingly sold to them therefore not breaking the law. Maybe since they didn't complete the transaction it wouldn't have have been a crime and the cops would have let everyone walk. BUT there would be a record of the incident for other news agencies to pick up.

I guess my question is if you're selling private party and during the transaction you find out the other person is lying, after stopping the sale is it your duty to report them on the spot or to give their info to BATFE after the fact?

[Aloha_Shooter]

I guess my question is if you're selling private party and during the transaction you find out the other person is lying, after stopping the sale is it your duty to report them on the spot or to give their info to BATFE after the fact?

If not your duty, it's in your best interests to report the attempt to someone (not necessarily BATFE) so you have a contemporaneous record that you not only didn't aid them in evading the law but notified authorities that someone was trying to do so.

[OneGuy67]

I'm not a lawyer but I believe lying in order to buy a firearm is a crime. Also if the reporter lives in Denver they would have been lying to get around the Denver ban. If the seller didn't recognize the reporter, he wouldn't have Knowingly sold to them therefore not breaking the law. Maybe since they didn't complete the transaction it wouldn't have have been a crime and the cops would have let everyone walk. BUT there would be a record of the incident for other news agencies to pick up.

I guess my question is if you're selling private party and during the transaction you find out the other person is lying, after stopping the sale is it your duty to report them on the spot or to give their info to BATFE after the fact?

Again, I'm not looking to be confrontational here and I don't like the gonzo "surprise", "stick-a-mike-in-your-face-and-make-you-look-stupid-on-camera" journalism, but your belief that lying to someone about their name in a private transaction is a crime, isn't in the statutes. We don't know where Julie Hayden lives, so the premise that she might have broken a Denver municipal ordinance isn't relevant either.

To try to answer your question, I believe it would depend upon what the person was lying about. Lying about being a Colorado resident, would negate the transaction as you can only conduct that private transaction with someone else who is a Colorado resident. Lying about not being a prohibited person? Maybe. I would be on board with you reporting the person to local law enforcement, state law enforcement and/or the BATFE.