The arrest of the man who allegedly sold the gun to the Old Dominion University shooter is a reminder of how attacks are still fueled by private sales and straw purchases while lawmakers focus on everything else. Kenya Mcchell Chapman of Smithfield, Virginia, was charged on 13 March 2026 with dealing in firearms without a license and making false statements in connection with the pistol used in the 12 March attack. According to CNN, Chapman had been under federal investigation before for straw-purchasing firearms; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had issued him a warning letter and required a letter of apology. He was not prosecuted. The gun he later sold to Mohamed Bailor Jalloh had been stolen from a vehicle in Newport News about a year earlier; Chapman sold it to Jalloh for $100 days before the shooting, claiming Jalloh needed it for protection as a delivery driver.
The Arrest Highlights How Straw Purchases and Private Sales Still Fuel Attacks While Lawmakers Look Elsewhere
On 12 March 2026, Jalloh, a former Army National Guard member who had been convicted in 2016 of attempting to provide material support to ISIS, opened fire in an ROTC classroom at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah and wounded two students before ROTC students subdued and killed him. As CNN reported on 13 March, the Justice Department charged Chapman the next day. Court documents showed that Jalloh’s phone, found next to his body, led investigators to Chapman; the two had six calls between 5 and 12 March, and location data placed Jalloh at Chapman’s Smithfield residence on 6 and 11 March. The serial number on the Glock pistol had been partially obliterated, so tracing the weapon was difficult until the phone data gave investigators another path.
Straw purchasing is when someone who can legally buy a firearm buys it on behalf of a person who cannot, while falsely certifying on federal forms that they are the actual buyer. According to NPR, prosecutors and the ATF have long struggled to prove intent; suspects often claim they did not know the gun would go to a prohibited person or that it was stolen. In Chapman’s case, he first told agents he found the gun “in the woods,” then admitted he had stolen it and sold it to Jalloh, as CNN and the Justice Department noted. Chapman had previously been investigated in 2021 for straw purchases of firearms that were later recovered from crime scenes, including a homicide; the U.S. Attorney’s office at the time declined to prosecute and instead issued a warning letter, as reported by CNN and ABC News. If convicted on the current charges, he faces up to 35 years in prison.
Federal enforcement of straw purchases has historically been uneven. The Trace reported that there is no standalone federal statute that explicitly outlaws straw purchasing; prosecutors rely on false-statement and transfer provisions, and U.S. Attorneys have often been reluctant to pursue cases that are hard to prove. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 created a new federal straw-purchase provision with enhanced penalties of up to 15 years, or 25 years if the firearm is used in a felony or terrorism. Even so, the ODU case shows that prior investigations can end with a warning rather than prosecution, and the gun still finds its way to someone barred from owning it. Virginia’s universal background-check law for private sales was struck down by a circuit court in October 2025, so private transfers in the state no longer require a background check through state police, as reported by WHRO and other outlets.
What This Actually Means
The Chapman arrest is the “follow the money” story: the gun had a path from theft to private sale to a convicted felon and terrorism convict, and the seller had already been on the radar of federal agents. Politicians often focus on the shooter, the weapon type, or sentencing after the fact; the editorial angle here is that straw purchases and private sales remain a central channel for how prohibited people get guns, and that channel is still under-policed and under-legislated. Until enforcement and policy treat that channel as a first-order problem, the same pattern will keep repeating.
What Is a Straw Purchase?
A straw purchase occurs when a person who is legally eligible to buy a firearm buys it on behalf of someone who is not allowed to own one, while falsely stating on federal Form 4473 that they are the actual purchaser. The buyer may be paid or may hand the gun over for other reasons. Straw purchasing is a federal crime, and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 increased maximum penalties. Prosecutors must prove the buyer knew or had reason to know the gun would go to someone else; defendants often claim they did not know the recipient was prohibited or that the gun was stolen, which makes convictions harder to obtain.