The gun market is booming on Instagram.
The popular photo-posting app – bought last year by Facebook for $1 billion – has become the go-to place for folks looking to buy and sell firearms on the Internet, boasting a web of private owners and professional dealers with shotguns, handguns and assault rifles for sale on the open market, according to a report by The Daily Beast.
Instagram is not an e-commerce site, and has no stated policy barring firearm sales.
Potential deals are openly discussed in the Instagram comments section.
“Great setup,” a presumably interested user responds.
“Asking $3,000 for everything,” the seller writes back. “I’m really trying to get a package deal. Don’t need want to part it all out.”
Transactions then move from the public comments arena to private conversations via email and phone.
And the deals aren’t illegal.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has no authority on gun sales between private parties, and different states have different rules when it comes to buying firearms.
This is as it should be.
ReplyDeleteYes, this way the mentally ill and criminally dangerous can buy guns easy as pie. Lawful gun owners and criminal gun owners are first cousins, after all.
DeleteMore lying insults? Of course, you've never adequately explained how criminals will be prevented from getting guns, so I doubt you have anything to say that isn't a fallacy.
DeleteBullshit, Greg. I've explained it over and over again. Take safe storage laws for example. Are you saying gun theft wouldn't be drastically cut if you lawful gun owners were required by law to keep your guns locked up?
DeleteThat last line is incorrect. The federal government highly regulates interstate private sales of firearms. It is only when the sale remains in state where they don't have much of a say.
ReplyDeleteOh, is that all? Only the in-state sales? Well, I guess it's no problem then, huh?
DeleteIf you guys really want change, it would help to be honest about what the law currently is.
DeleteInstagram users told the Daily Beast said they make an effort to follow local gun sales laws when buying or selling via the social networking site.
ReplyDelete“Every time I do a sale I look up the actual law,” said Mike, a self-described gun collector and enthusiast who has sold firearms on Instagram. “I just Google it.”
“I can’t really speak for everyone, but for myself personally it’s not worth making $10 to spend 10, 20-years-to-life, and lose my voting rights, most importantly” he says. “No amount of money is worth it. When it comes to that, I play strictly by the book.”
Brooklyn rapper Matthew “Neno” Best didn’t play by the rules.
The little-known singer bragged on Instagram about selling weapons out of his Ocean Hill studio – posting photos of guns and large stashes of cash – leading to an NYPD probe that in August resulted in the largest gun bust in city history, netting 254 firearms and resulting in 19 indictments."
I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you. Not only are users of instagram actually taking steps to ensure they are obeying the law, but those that aren't are actually being caught and prosecuted.
Now, if only someone would make NICS available to private sellers, they could go one step further and voluntarily check to ensure they aren't selling to a prohibited person.
ONE user of Instagram is. Many others are using it to circumvent the law, and you're all for it.
Delete