In Indiana, any person who knowingly or intentionally makes a materially false statement on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Form 4473 (which federal law requires a purchaser to fill out when buying a firearm from a dealer) when purchasing a handgun commits a felony.¹

A person who provides a firearm to an individual whom the person knows is prohibited from possessing or purchasing a firearm or intends to use the firearm to commit a crime commits criminal transfer of a firearm, a felony.²

A person who knowingly or intentionally sells, gives, or in any other manner transfers the ownership or possession of a handgun to another person who the seller knows is prohibited from purchasing a handgun or intends to use the handgun to commit a crime is guilty of a felony.³

Indiana also criminalizes the straw purchase of a handgun. A person who buys a firearm for another individual whom the buyer knows is ineligible to purchase or receive a handgun is guilty of a Level 5 felony.⁴ It is also a felony for an individual to purchase a handgun for someone the purchaser knows intends to use the handgun to commit a crime.⁵

A firearms dealer who knowingly or intentionally sells, rents, trades or transfers a handgun in violation of the state laws regulating such activities commits a misdemeanor.⁶

Indiana also makes it a felony to remove, obliterate, or alter the importer or manufacturer’s serial number on any firearm, or possess any firearm on which the importer or manufacturer’s serial number has been removed, obliterated, or altered.⁷

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1. Ind. Code Ann. § 35-47-2.5-12.[↩]
2. Ind. Code Ann. § 35-47-2.5-16(b).[↩]
3. Ind. Code Ann. § 35-47-2-7(b).[↩]
4. Ind. Code Ann. § 35-47-2-7(c).[↩]
5. Id.[↩]
6. Ind. Code Ann. § 35-47-2.5-13.[↩]
7. Ind. Code Ann. § 35-47-2-18.[↩]