Gun Show vs. Gun Shop

Local news reports

Facebook's Official Statement on the Policy Change

fb dot com

posted especially for Kurt's edification (check the date below, Kurt)

March 05, 2014

Monika Bickert, Head of Global Policy Management

Facebook, at its heart, is about helping people connect and communicate. Because of the diversity of people and cultures on our services, we know that people sometimes post or share things that may be controversial or objectionable. We work hard to find a balance between enabling people to express themselves about topics that are important to them, and creating an environment that is safe and respectful.

This balance is important to how we view commercial activity on Facebook or Instagram. We have strict rules about how businesses can use our advertising tools. For example, we do not permit advertising for illegal drugs, tobacco products, prescription pharmaceuticals, weapons, and several other products and services, and restrict advertising for products such as alcohol, adult products, and gaming. In all cases, we have systems in place to review and remove advertising that violates our policies, is false, deceptive, or misleading.

Of course, most of our tools are free to use, and many people and organizations use them to establish a presence on Facebook, including to promote commercial transactions. While people can't use our services to actually sell things to each other, they can set up a Page or make an occasional post to their Timeline to find a roommate, sell a home, or solicit contributions for a church or nonprofit organization. Just like posting on a bulletin board at a supermarket or community center, these activities may be considered commercial, but we treat this type of sharing like any other type of sharing on our services - and we respond to reports when something violates our Community Standards.

People sometimes use our free tools to discuss products that are regulated or controversial. In some cases they promote these products for sale or use, even though it's not possible to complete a sale on Facebook or Instagram. While we've recently heard specific concerns from people about offers for the private sales of firearms, this is one of many areas where we face a difficult challenge balancing individuals' desire to express themselves on our services, and recognizing that this speech may have consequences elsewhere.

Today, we are introducing a series of new educational and enforcement efforts for people discussing the private sale of regulated items:

• Any time we receive a report on Facebook about a post promoting the private sale of a commonly regulated item, we will send a message to that person reminding him or her to comply with relevant laws and regulations. We will also limit access to that post to people over the age of 18.
• We will require Pages that are primarily used by people to promote the private sale of commonly regulated goods or services to include language that clearly reminds people of the importance of understanding and complying with relevant laws and regulations, and limit access to people over the age of 18 or older if required by applicable law.
• We will provide special in-app education on Instagram for those who search for sales or promotions of firearms.
• We will not permit people to post offers to sell regulated items that indicate a willingness to evade or help others evade the law. For example, private sellers of firearms in the U.S. will not be permitted to specify “no background check required,” nor can they offer to transact across state lines without a licensed firearms dealer.

We have worked with a number of individuals and organizations on the development of these efforts, which will be implemented and enforced in the coming weeks. We are grateful in particular for the advice offered by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Americans for Responsible Solutions, Sandy Hook Promise, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and Moms Demand Action, which helped us develop an approach for the private sale of firearms. We also appreciate the feedback provided by the Facebook Safety Advisory Board.

As always, we encourage people who see anything that violates our policies to report it to us using the tools found throughout our services. Facebook and Instagram will continue to remove content, and notify law enforcement where appropriate, when we are notified about things shared on our services that suggest a direct, credible risk to others’ safety. We will also continue to strictly enforce our advertising policies.

We believe these collective efforts represent the right approach in balancing people's desire to express themselves while promoting a safe, responsible community.

Colorado's Law Requiring Background Checks on Private Sales is Working Well

Fox News

Republicans are criticizing Colorado Bureau of Investigations data that tracks the number of background checks done on private gun sales since a new law expanded the number of reviews required.

The GOP failed last month in an effort to repeal the law that added online and private-seller transactions to a list of mandated checks.

During debate on the repeal attempt, CBI Director Ron Sloan said 6,200 checks were done on “private transfers that were covered under HB1229.”

Democrats sized on that figure in rejecting the repeal attempt, saying it showed that the law was working. Republicans, however, said the number was misleading.

According to CBI data released late Friday, 2,361 of the 6,199 private background checks done in the first six months of the law going into effect were conducted at gun shows. Background checks at gun shows have long been required under state law.

Republican Senate Leader Bill Cadman said Monday that he was “extremely concerned that such misleading information would be provided as factually based testimony by the senior law enforcement professional in Colorado.”

This is sort-of the opposite of Missouri. I wonder if the violent crime rate will go down in Colorado and perhaps someone will suggest it's due to the stricter laws.

As far as the nit-picking complaint that not all of the 6,000 private sale background checks were done outside of gun shows, big deal. Maybe they tried to pull a fast one, it would have been pretty stupid since it was so obvious, but the point remains.  There were still about 4,000 private sale background checks done in the first six months of the new law. That sounds like a winner to me.

Facebook Prohibits Gun Ads

Facebook dot com

Prohibited Content

Ads and Sponsored Stories may not contain content that is illegal or otherwise prohibited per Facebook's Advertising Guidelines. Prohibited content includes but is not limited to the examples listed below:

Weapons:

• Ads and Sponsored Stories may not promote firearms, ammunition, paintball guns, bb guns, fireworks, explosives, pepper spray, knives, tasers, or weapons of any kind, including those used for self-defense. Ads and Sponsored Stories may not directly or indirectly link to landing pages where people can purchase any of these products.
• Images of weapons are generally acceptable, as long as the weapon is not pointed directly at the person seeing it.
• Ads and Sponsored Stories promoting blogs or groups that exist to help connect people whose interests are related to these products are allowed as long as the service does not lead to the sale of any weapons or explosives.
• Acceptable: "Gun Exposition Today"
• Unacceptable: "Get your ammo here"

The Private Sale Loophole Has Found a New Home on Instagram

The New York Post

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.

Study Finds Vast Online Marketplace for Guns without Background Checks

The Washington Post

The marketplace for firearms on the Internet, where buyers are not required to undergo background checks, is so vast that advocates for stricter regulations now consider online sales a greater threat than the gun-show loophole.

A new study by Third Way , a center-left think tank with close ties to the Obama administration, found that thousands of guns, including so-called assault weapons, are for sale online and that many prospective buyers were shopping online specifically to avoid background checks.

The study focused on Armslist.com — a popular classified site similar to Craigslist.org that facilitates private sales of firearms and ammunition based on location — and analyzed listings in 10 states where senators voted against a background-check compromise this spring.

“At this point, this is the biggest loophole in the background check system,” said Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, director of social policy and politics at Third Way, an organization that has been active in the gun-control movement for years.

Background checks — designed to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons, domestic violence perpetrators or the severely mentally ill — are mandatory for gun sales at retail stores, but not at gun shows or for private sales, such as between neighbors and family members or between individuals online.

The National Rifle Association and other gun rights supporters have advocated against expanding the background check system because they believe doing so would not stop society’s most dangerous people from procuring weapons and eventually would lead to even stricter gun regulations, including a federal registry.

The NRA, in a policy statement on its Web site, notes that most firearms sales online go through a federally licensed firearms dealer in the home state of the buyer. “The reality is that the Internet does not provide any legal opportunity to simply buy a firearm as if it were a pair of jeans,” the statement says.