There are not very many reputable ham dealers if that is the case. Many
will sell without asking if you are a ham. There is no US requirement
that
you have a license to buy a transceiver , just to transmitt on one.

Probably, but is it a good idea to have something that is illegal to
use in most cases? Most hams are quite protective of their band
allocations and spend a lot of time tracking down illegal users.


Guess that it is a differant point of view. Mine is that if someone pays
money for a transceiver (especially a low band one so they can practice
copying the code) they will have an investment and reason to get their
license so they can operate all the bands.