An Upper Darby man will spend 5 to 10 years in state prison for the straw purchase of six guns he purchased at a Chalfont gun store in November 2020, some of the guns which were later recovered during criminal investigations.

Commons Pleas Judge Raymond F. McHugh sentenced Bashir T. Shakir, 25, on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. Following a 2-day bench trial in August, Shakir was found guilty of six counts of making false statements on firearm purchase forms, as well as six counts of illegally giving firearms to other persons, all felonies.

The investigation found that Shakir purchased four 9mm handguns and two .45-caliber handguns on Nov. 13, 2020, and four of the guns were recovered by police during criminal investigations around the tri-state area: two in Philadelphia, one in Wilmington, Delaware, and one in Millville, New Jersey.

Shakir was charged in June 2021 following an investigation by Bucks County Detectives and the Office of the Attorney General’s Gun Violence Task Force.

The investigation began with the recovery of a loaded 9-mm handgun on a street in Philadelphia in December 2020.

A records check revealed that it was purchased by Shakir on Nov. 13, 2020.

Further investigation found that it was one of six guns purchased by Shakir that day at the Bunker Gun Shop II in Chalfont. Shakir had never filed a report with police that any guns had been lost or stolen.

Investigators requested that Shakir be flagged for future gun purchases. In March 2021, Shakir attempted to purchase firearms from gun shops in Bucks County and Montgomery County but was stopped.

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office has made gun safety its biggest priority, by investigating and prosecuting straw purchasers, ghost gun manufacturers and those who illegally possess firearms.

Last week, Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub joined Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Abington Township Police Chief Patrick Molloy to announce the dismantling of a gun trafficking organization that purchased 34 firearms in Montgomery, Bucks and Philadelphia counties and illegally resold them throughout the region.

It was the latest example of this office’s efforts to punish those who illegally possess and sell guns.

Shakir’s case was investigated by Bucks County Detectives and the Office of the Attorney General’s Gun Violence Task Force, with assistance from the Philadelphia Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, Wilmington (DE) Police Department and the Millville (NJ) Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney David A. Keightly Jr.