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SecularMotion

(7,981 posts)
Fri Jun 10, 2016, 05:51 AM Jun 2016

It’s Still Remarkably Easy For Criminals To Buy Guns On Facebook

Five months after Facebook unveiled a new policy banning private gun sales, it is still shockingly easy to find and buy a firearm without a background check—even if you’re a convicted arsonist, like the one who spoke to Vocativ.

The ban, implemented in January, prohibits the private, person-to-person sales of guns, but allows gun clubs and licensed dealers to continue to operate Facebook and Instagram accounts. As Vocativ reported in February, the ban didn’t stop the online sale of guns, it just moved several online firearm marketplaces to other social media websites. Now, it appears private marketplaces on Facebook are still flourishing and in many cases do not appear to be adhering to the social network’s gun policy.

At the time of publication, Vocativ found at least a dozen Facebook groups dedicated to selling, trading, and discussing firearms and ammunition, with more being unearthed in our ongoing coverage of online gun groups. Some of these groups posted disclaimers explaining Facebook’s policy, but there is nothing to indicate that sellers are enforcing the required background check. To add to the questionable nature of these transactions, the administrators of many of these groups are not in several of the databases that list names of individuals and businesses with a federal firearm license (FFL), which Facebook requires in order to operate a page that facilitates the sale of firearms.

Facebook did not respond to Vocativ’s multiple requests for an explanation of what is being done to enforce the policy. Members of various gun groups, including several of the administrators who do not appear on the FFL lists reviewed by Vocativ, also did not respond to our repeated requests for an interview.

http://www.vocativ.com/326191/its-still-remarkably-easy-for-criminals-to-buy-guns-on-facebook/
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ileus

(15,396 posts)
1. If you sale on FB know your buyer before making the deal.
Fri Jun 10, 2016, 05:57 AM
Jun 2016

I've made several deals on FB involving firearms, I'm still FB friends with all of them.



You get around FBs crybaby requirement by saying "PM to discuss" when posting a firearm.


JonathanRackham

(1,604 posts)
3. The article makes no sense at all.
Fri Jun 10, 2016, 10:54 AM
Jun 2016
Five months after Facebook unveiled a new policy banning private gun sales, it is still shockingly easy to find and buy a firearm without a background check—even if you’re a convicted arsonist, like the one who spoke to Vocativ.


Shouldn't arsonist be banned from buying matches?

Straw Man

(6,760 posts)
4. Facebook can't enforce the policy.
Fri Jun 10, 2016, 11:06 AM
Jun 2016

Not without proving that actual sales took place. Law enforcement could use Facebook to set up stings. That's about it.

virginia mountainman

(5,046 posts)
7. So...
Fri Jun 10, 2016, 11:33 AM
Jun 2016

Simply proves where there is a will, there's a way... But hey, we could have told you that. The funny thing is that people actually thought that they could actually "ban" transactions on facebook.

What a folly.

 

DonP

(6,185 posts)
8. Sooo, "Mount Morris Man Ropes Woman into Buying Gun for Him, Cops Arrest Both" what happened?
Fri Jun 10, 2016, 11:38 AM
Jun 2016

If it's that easy, why didn't this guy just go online to buy a gun?

Crooks are just stupid?

Or they don't read DU gun control posts, (like everyone else)?

shadowrider

(4,941 posts)
9. I've tried to sell two handguns in my state
Fri Jun 10, 2016, 06:27 PM
Jun 2016

I got responses from people that wanted to show up, pay and leave.

I told them that's ok as long as they had a valid conceal carry license issued by my state AND I could get their personal info, i.e. name, address etc. for my records.

I didn't hear from them again.

I didn't sell the handguns but that's ok. I was down on bucks at the time but glad the sale didn't go through.

 

DonP

(6,185 posts)
10. I always figured the one time I tried to do something wrong ...
Fri Jun 10, 2016, 07:57 PM
Jun 2016

.... if the time I'd get caught and be made an example by the judge.

(Probably comes from 8 years of Catholic Grammar School with old fashioned nuns that knew how to use a ruler for geometry and discipline and a father with a right hand about the size of Utah)

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