It is far too easy for minors, criminals and dangerous people to buy guns online. Tell websites to adopt common sense policies to stop illegal gun sales online.
Those profiting from online gun sales have a responsibility to help prevent illegal guns from getting into the hands of minors, criminals and dangerous people.
I’m joining more than 600 U.S. Mayors in calling on key gun websites to take the following steps to make sure all of their online gun sales are legal and safe:
- Require sellers to register with the site before listing guns for sale online
- Require buyers to register with the site before contacting gun sellers
- Provide a simple mechanism to flag suspicious behavior in gun sales
-
Seller on Craigslist.org Agrees to Sell Assault Rifle
-
Online Sellers Agree to Make Illegal Sales
-
Ohio Seller on ArmsList.com Sells Assault Rifle
-
Ohio Seller on ArmsList.com Sells Handgun
-
Ohio Seller on Gunlistings.org Agrees to Sell to a Teenager
-
Texas Seller on ElPasoGunTrader.com Does the Right Thing
THE INVESTIGATION
Fix Gun Checks: Delete Online Outlaws is a response to the national undercover investigation conducted by the City of New York. Investigators uncovered a vast, unregulated online market for illegal guns, where 62% of sellers on classified ad websites were willing to sell to individuals who admitted they couldn’t pass a criminal background check.
Sting: Undercover investigators contacted 125 private sellers from 14 different states advertising guns on 10 websites, including Craigslist and KSL.com. These represent a fraction of the more than 25,000 guns for sale on the websites investigated.
Scope of Problem: Currently, licensed gun dealers are required to conduct criminal background checks on prospective buyers, but because of a gap in the law, so-called “private sellers” do not need to. It’s estimated that more than 40% of gun sales are private sales. These sales are increasingly made on the internet, a haven for illegal guns according to the investigation. It is a federal felony to sell a gun to someone believed to be prohibited from purchasing a gun, such as a minor, a criminal or anyone declared mentally unstable by a court.
Solutions: There are three solutions for safer online gun sales, and many competitors of the companies targeted by the investigation have already successfully implemented them. The simple steps outlined above would greatly diminish the ability for unscrupulous sellers and prohibited buyers from conducting illegal gun trades.
Download the City of New York’s full report from the investigation: Point, Click, Fire: An Undercover Investigation of Illegal Online Gun Sales.
