Matter Of Integrity And Honesty!!

[NEXTYEAR]

Over the last two weeks I have been drooling over a Springfield XD .40
I am going to be 20 next month and will begin the police academy in May of 06.
I have been reading through the gun laws for Utah and have found the following to be an obstacle in obtaining the Springfield XD .40.

Illegal for a legal purchaser to buy a firearm with **intent** to provide it to anyone ineligible to purchase a firearm from a dealer (Utah Code 76-10-527)

In the state of Utah one must be 21 to legally purchase a handgun. Shotguns and rifles can be purchased legally at 18. The Utah gun laws allow someone 18 or older to have possession of a handgun they just can

[locke1419]

Why do you need that gun? If I was you I would just wait and shot my friends gun. Beside I know are academy instruction hated us shooting on are own because it creates habits they dont teach you and are very hard to break.

[pkagel]

To start w/ I agree w/ locke.

Your idea sounds an awful lot like a straw purchase. If you must, have your wife buy the gun you want and you can borrow it from her to go shoot.

[QUOTE=NEXTYEAR]Idea- My wife will be 21 in a couple months. She will be able to legally purchase a handgun. I was thinking (remember I

[NEXTYEAR]

I guess I dont really need that gun, but I have been told that the more you practice with the gun you use the better you get. Makes sense to me. I just want to get some practice.

[pkagel]

Give it a little time. If you had 4 years before you were going to the academy I'd say buy it but being that it is a short period, just wait. You don't want to have to unlearn a poor habit because it will take you a long time.

I was tops in my class and still had to unlearn some of the bad habits I had.

I guess I dont really need that gun, but I have been told that the more you practice with the gun you use the better you get. Makes sense to me. I just want to get some practice.

[NEXTYEAR]

Sounds good. Thanks for the advice.

[Sleuth]

Slow down! You will have an entire career to shoot guns and ammo that you did not pay for!

[NEXTYEAR]

I have heard that one may need to unlearn habits when starting at the academy many times before. So I have given it some thought. I figured that if my wife does end up buying it, ill borrow it and just shoot it with friends currently in the academy, that way I dont learn any bad habits.

[pkagel]

I have a better idea. They'll issue you a duty gun. Buy a nice 22 like a Ruger MkIII or something of the sort and have fun plinking with it. It is also WAY cheaper to shoot.

[NEXTYEAR]

Give it a little time. If you had 4 years before you were going to the academy I'd say buy it but being that it is a short period, just wait. You don't want to have to unlearn a poor habit because it will take you a long time.

I was tops in my class and still had to unlearn some of the bad habits I had.

I think it helped that you had practiced before the academy to become tops of your class, do you agree?

[pkagel]

Well, yes, I practiced for about 12 years before the academy but had gained some bad habits from the Navy and on my own. Some of the stuff they corrected and other stuff they eventually overlooked because I was doing so good. One year of practice w/ no instruction and you are going to be re-enforcing some very bad habits. If you really want to shoot then go get some professional instruction. Your academy buddies are not the ones you want showing you how to shoot because they are too new of shooters to be able to pick up on the subtle problems that you will have in the course of learning.

I think it helped that you had practiced before the academy to become tops of your class, do you agree?

[Sleuth]

You could see if any of the Academy firearms instructors give private lessons. But, after 9 years as the lead firearms/officer safety instructor at my agency's academy, I still prefer students who have never shot before.

[NEXTYEAR]

ok, maybe I can find a trainer. I don't want to learn bad habits.

[NEXTYEAR]

one of my biggest concerns was coming to close to a straw purchase(which I didnt know about before this post) If my wife can buy it and I just borrow it from her. Im ok with that.

[ctt]

one of my biggest concerns was coming to close to a straw purchase(which I didnt know about before this post) If my wife can buy it and I just borrow it from her. Im ok with that.

Did you contact Utah's AG as suggested in other threads you've asked about this same issue? Have you talked to anyone in the legal department in the city where you live? If you're seriously concerned about this, don't do anything until you consult sources that you know.

Either way, are you not able to rent guns for a nominal fee for use at local shooting ranges? Maybe you have spent a lot of time shooting a variety of handguns to make sure that you really like the XD, but your line of questioning seems to indicate that you are fairly new to this. Renting guns at a range, would be a good way to try out different models or just practice with one the one you want to.

I'm pretty sure that the ranges I visited when I first became interested in shooting would have cut me a deal on renting guns on a repeat basis to get an idea of which I wanted to purchase. Maybe you can find something similar where you live. Even if they had not cut me a deal, the most that any range I went to charged 5$ / day, which if you went to the range every week would only end up costing 260$ for a year until you did turn 21.