Warning to everyone...be very careful with your online sales.  Ensure you are following the law, if you are selling across state lines ensure you use an FFL.  If you are selling locally, ensure you are following all applicable local laws.  The EE/Gunbroker is being watched.

ETA:  If an admin contacts me I will explain everything to the Admin, have them clear this, then post the full story here to educate everyone.

STORY:

So I get a response to my add, a curious sole wants to buy my (self admitted) overpriced item(s). I'm just a red blooded American trying to make a buck, don't shoot me.

Email was laced with a signature that referenced legal statutes concerning privacy, not too strange, but very specific. Called the phone number in the email to get a voicemail saying, "You have reached 555-555-1234".  Looked up the domain name associated with the email and it belongs to a security consulting firm that specializes in private investigation and legal work. Googled the username and the name is used on multiple forums, one of which shows the user is a 37y old State Police. User joined AR15.com 1/2/2013 and has 16 posts, almost all in the EE.

After phone tag, I finally got to talk to the guy. A little scatter brained, claimed he had a notebook of ads he was interested in and wanted me to explain mine so he could find it in his notebook. I explained it and he went straight to the deal. He explained he was retired law enforcement in another state and didn't trust PayPal. He had a buddy who just happened to be close to me in TX who was also retired law enforcement. Basically suggested the buddy could broker the deal.

After a brief discussion, I explained that the buddy can act as a liaison only to deliver a money order and inspect the merchandise. The firearms would still need to be transferred via shipping to an FFL. If he wanted the buddy could take the mags/accessories, but the Ammo would be shipped via UPS hazmat to him and the rifle shipped UPS ground to an FFL of his choice.

He said he would think about it, but he had a ton more ads to look at. I thanked him for his interest and we disconnected.

There is no direct evidence that this was a proposed straw purchase by a law enforcement agency, but it was certainly hinted at.  I stuck to an FFL being required at every turn.

Username: **REDACTED***
Link to profile: **REDACTED** (profile shows user is a 37y old State Police officer)

So this is/was two law enforcement officers (either current or recently retired) who definitely know the law, and because they throw out there that they are law enforcement it sounds like, "common guy, you can trust me...".

I was wondering when one of the MSM shitlickers would "Arrainge" a sloppy transaction online, to make a huge stink in support for whatever Shitcago Jesus has lined up.

Bloomberg, ABC, Schumer are all good for stunts like that..

Glad you brought that up..they are going to try to make us look bad anyway possible.

Is there more to this story?

Yep....scattered all over GD

I've been busy working.

Nothing more to say right now.  Just watch yourselves.

Links? I've been a loser the past few days and have been on ARF constantly. Haven't seen anything....

We need to make sure all laws are obeyed. This is just the right way to do things.

No links...I had a potential buyer of one of my ads who was a bit funny and the proposed trAnsaction was not legit plus the individuals affiliations raised my neck hair.

Anytime I have sold anything on GB or EE, it has gone through an FFL.  That's the way you do it.  Chain of custody, so to speak, remains "official."

Should have got their info and then told the cops if they were the ones bringing the illegal stuff into the transaction.


Might have been fun for them

As it has been for many years. I won't sell anything without going through an FFL anymore, even in state.

They didn't bring anything illegal, only *suggested* a transaction, which while easier, and on the surface sounding legit...was definitely not legit.  I explained the correct way that the transaction would have to progress and left it at that.

Bump for admin

Bump for update

You have me curious now.

Tagging in case we ever get the story.

Would not surprise me for it to be either the Feds or a reporter, or even Bloomberg himself with one of his "stings"

So are you going to tell us, or continue all the cloak and dagger business?  

Being the OP is in TX I am interested.  Shoot between this and the other post today about the guy getting an ATF letter about needing an FFL because he sold a gun or two and parts on the EE my interested is piqued.

... wut happened?

I am interested as well.

Once an admin clears it I will post the story.

Keep clean, keep calm , and play it safe , it's all we can do.

+1

In the meantime, here is what BRADY GUN CONTROL is publishing about events on ARMLIST:

http://blog.bradycampaign.org/2012/12/on-the-internet-murder-is-just-a-click-away/

They are using this to highlight legal IN STATE sales of pistols to others w.o. using an FFL:

A crazed man, his head awash in a depraved violent dreamworld in which he lives and hopes to make real. He is, we imagine, socially awkward at best, distant and clearly disturbed.

But he needs a gun to make his homicidal fantasies come true.

He is not the sort of man who will casually walk into the local sporting goods store, chat with the hunters and sportsmen, answer the salesman’s questions about what type of gun he needs and for what purpose. He doesn’t know much about guns, and why he needs a gun he’d rather not say.

And even if he could pass a criminal background check, the last thing he wants to do is fill out federal forms and have his gun purchase recorded and accessible to law enforcement.

What’s a killer to do?

Go online.

It’s not a pulp fiction murder mystery. It’s just that easy for a crazy killer to get a gun, online, with the click of a mouse.

That’s how Jitka Vesel, a wonderful 36-year-old woman, lost her life.

And that’s why the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence’s Legal Action Project brought a lawsuit against Armlist, a prominent gun web site. It is the first lawsuit of its kind against a gun web site.

On April 13, 2011, Jitka Vesel, an immigrant from the Czech Republic, was shot and killed by Demetry Smirnov, a Russian immigrant residing in Canada who had met Jitka online a few years earlier. Smirnov stalked her and confronted her at her workplace parking lot where he shot her 11-12 times with a .40-caliber handgun.

The complaint alleges that Jitka’s killer illegally purchased his murder weapon from a private seller whom he located through armslist.com, an online gun auction site owned by defendant Armslist, LLC. The complaint alleges that the website’s design facilitates illegal gun sales to unlawful gun buyers with no background checks and no questions asked, and encourages and enables prospective buyers to find gun sellers throughout all 50 states and evade laws that limit private sellers to selling firearms only to residents of their own state.

Responsible gun sellers and web site operators, like most Americans, recognize that guns should be sold with the greatest care in order to prevent arming dangerous people with the means to kill. Gun sellers and web site operators who knowingly funnel guns into the hands of killers and criminals must be held accountable.

In 1999, eBay announced it would prohibit online gun sales. Craigslist followed suit, banning firearm sales from its site. Other websites that allow private parties to post goods for sale, including Amazon.com and Google AdWords, also prohibit the listing of firearms for sale because of the high likelihood that such gun sales will funnel guns to the criminal market.

Sales conducted over the internet frequently have been linked to illegal gun trafficking, sales to minors, as well as connected to the mass shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. According to press reports, Armslist.com also facilitated the sale of the gun used in a recent multiple shooting at a Wisconsin spa in October 2012.

An undercover investigation of online firearm sellers conducted by the City of New York found that 62% of private gun sellers agreed to sell a firearm to a buyer who said that he probably could not pass a background check. The City reported that in the undercover sting, more than half of the gun sellers contacted who were listed by Armslist agreed to sell a gun to someone who said he could not pass a background check, in violation of federal law.

It is too late to save Jitka Vesel. But our lawsuit can bring accountability to the online gun market, and prevent similar tragedies. We as a nation are better than an anonymous Internet gun market where killers and criminals can easily get guns.

 

Tag for updates.

As long as people follow the law the libs can fuck themselves.

Selling a gun on gunbroker is almost as bad as selling anything on craigslist. some people

Don't worry:

Tag for specifics

I'm curious.

That's what college is for

Got me wonderin.  It's easier and safer to do it right.

I've been selling my excess pmags on gunbroker.  I state in my ad that you can't buy if you're in a ban state.  A guy from NY wanted to buy, but asked that I ship it to him at his GF's house in another state.  Seemed a little hinky, so I told him I could not sell to him.  Probably wasn't the law, but no reason to risk it.



I am sure that there are LE as well as the media out there trying to catch us in a slip up.  Let it not be us.

Why would a site staff need to clear your story about a sale you were trying to make that you said went fishy so you backed out

Be careful if Geraldo calls...

That seems like a very non-story to me.  I had someone propose an illegal transaction to me once or maybe twice. I don't even remember what site I had the ad on.  I told them the sale would have to go through an ffl and never heard back.  I don't know if it was an idiot, a setup, or a criminal but it didn't really matter.  It didn't happen.

My thoughts exactly. If the sale never took place, how could it be harmful to ARFCOM? In for details, you better not disappoint OP.

Tag.... Lol I would report this thread to get a mod here quicker if I knew I wouldn't get da ban hammer, or a timeout! Hopefully we can get the whole story soon.

If you're waiting for "admin" to contact you, why don't you contact THEM?
It's not like you can't IM one in GD, or the EE, or any of the forums here.

Is it legal to ship a Rogers Superstoc to CA? Didn't think anything of it but its his first post. He said it was legal

What's this mystery?

TAG

- Clint

Are you under the impression that there aren't a million people out there that don't understand the confusing federal firearm laws and you're the only person that's ever been asked to do something illegal?

Avoid transactions with the F-troop.  Anything seems off or the person doesn't know what the rules are, end the transaction.  Might be someone who just doesn't know, but then again, they're online, so look up the rules before talking to me.  I've walked away from a couple transactions with people because they didn't know enough to purchase over the net.  Even if they were honest, I don't need to deal with the hassle of them.  You have to know the rules of a game to play it.

I just IM'd the story to a MOD for approval to post here.  When you read the story, you hear the players, you will know that they KNOW the law...beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Interest raised