It’s a good thing, too, especially since Curtessa Franklin, 21, of Canton, Massachusetts, attempted to use a straw purchaser twice last month – in a single day, Dec. 10 – when she came in looking for a handgun.

Bishop quickly knew what was up, and contacted law enforcement – before also calling other local gun shops – to warn them about what had happened.

“She didn’t really have a good story, and even then it kept changing until she was saying that it was for her friend but she was going to pay for it,” Bishop said, adding that he’d cautioned his employees about what was happening and to go into “straw purchase mode”to slow down the identification approval process.

While both Franklin and her accomplice claimed to be knowledgeable about guns, neither knew what model they already owned, he said.

Sure enough, after hastily leaving his shop because she was upset about not being able to immediately make the purchase, Franklin visited a local pawn shop and was subsequently turned away, Bishop said.

Her insistence was a red flag, as well as the fact she’d specifically chosen to try and buy a gun here rather than in another town, he said.

But on her return visit, Franklin – who said she needed to purchase a gun quickly because she was going to Miami, Florida, for a vacation – even approached another customer in his store, he said.

“She was bold – and desperate -enough to ask a customer in front of me to sell his handgun to her,” Bishop said, shaking his head at the memory.

“Honestly, I have no doubt that this was all drug related. I believe she was on her way to Miami for drugs, and that that was also why she was here. It wasn’t just a coincidence, in my opinion, that she just happened to end up in Martinsburg on her way south. And that is pretty frightening when you stop to think about the bigger potential ramifications,” he said.

By definition, a straw purchaser is someone with a clean background who purchases a firearm on behalf of a individual who is unable to legally buy a weapon – for various reasons, including being a convicted felon.

The federal law on background checks requires federally-licensed gun dealers to verify the identity of buyers, and submit their names to a national database to detect felons, individuals with a history of mental illness and various others who are unable to legally purchase a gun.

Thanks to Bishop’s earlier calls, time was on his side because West Virginia State Police were already staged outside his shop and ready to apprehend Franklin when she returned with yet another person willing to be her straw purchaser, he said.

“During her arrest, troopers found marijuana as well as stolen credit cards with money on them and a fair amount of cash was also recovered as well, so there was a lot of criminal activity going on with this person,” Bishop said.

Although Franklin was taken into custody at the Eastern Regional Jail on the marijuana possession, her incarceration didn’t last long, he said.

“That’s because in West Virginia, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is the only agency allowed to prosecute these kinds of cases right now,” Bishop said, adding that ATF agents had subsequently visited his shop as part of this investigation.

Still, it was difficult to know that Franklin – who is no stranger to law enforcement in the Boston area – spent such a little amount of time in jail, and was soon free to continue on her way, he said.

For example, Bishop wasn’t happy to learn that Franklin had reportedly been in a local liquor store just about 14 hours after she’d been arrested.

And after looking online, Bishop said he’d also seen that she was arrested again in a Boston suburb- just days after being arrested locally.

Her earlier arrests there have included shoplifting, credit card fraud and larceny, Bishop said, pointing to various Massachusetts police department reports posted online.

“She was also charged with stabbing a man after he asked her and a friend to stop rapping so loudly,” Bishop said.

Experience is the best teacher, he said with a sigh.

“So what did we teach her? That she can pretty much do what she wants, and then be on her way because that’s pretty much what happened,” Bishop said.

“And because of the time that it takes to coordinate between the state and federal government, a criminal like this woman is free to go ahead with a life of crime. And that is exactly what seems to have happened in this case. Maybe instead of worrying about new gun laws, we better look at more effectively being able to work with what’s already on the books,” he said.

Staff writer Jenni Vincent can be reached at 304-263-8931, ext. 131, or www.twitter.com/jennivincentwv.

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