A 25-year-old man was convicted on Thursday, August 11, 2022, for the straw purchase of six guns he purchased at Chalfont gun store in November 2020, the latest example of this office’s efforts to punish those who illegally possess and sell guns.

Bashir T. Shakir, of Upper Darby, was found guilty of Bashir T. Shakir, of Upper Darbyon Nov. 13, 2020. Four of those six handguns have been recovered by police during criminal investigations around the tri-state area: two in Philadelphia, one in Wilmington, Delaware, and one in Millville, New Jersey.

After a 2-day bench trial, Commons Pleas Judge Raymond F. McHugh found Shakir guilty of six counts of making false statements on firearm purchase forms, as well as six counts of illegally giving firearms to other persons.

Sentencing was deferred to a later date.

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.

“We will relentlessly pursue straw purchasers of guns, and those who use or possess guns criminally,” District Attorney Matt Weintraub said. “This is a top priority for us. Prosecution of straw purchasers, like this one, coupled with recovery of those guns, makes our community safer, and saves lives. More to come.”

Earlier this month, Bucks County Detectives Drug Strike Force arrested a felon in possession of three ghost guns, two rifles, ammunition and tools used to make additional firearms.

In June, Lower Bucks Source broke the story about Drug Strike Force Detectives dismantling a ring that supplied methamphetamine and firearms, including automatic weapons and ghost guns to areas of Lower Bucks County and North Philadelphia.

And in March, in a joint operation by Bucks County Detectives, the Office of Attorney General’s Gun Violence Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a 25-year-old Philadelphia man was arrested for the illegal straw purchases of 16 firearms.

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.

This 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.