OMG

[yesthattom]

MADISON, Wis. - The online gun dealer who sold a weapon to the Virginia Tech shooter said it was an unnerving coincidence that he also sold handgun accessories to the man who killed five students at Northern Illinois University.... Thompson said Friday. “I’m shaking. I can’t believe somebody would order from us again and do this.”

Thank you, Tom Tomorrow.

Comments

[la-directora.livejournal.com]

"That's so weird. The first time someone walked right through that wide open door over there, we thought it was strange. But when we left the door wide open, and someone walked through it AGAIN, well then we KNEW something really odd was happening."

Wow. What an idiot.

[cinema-babe.livejournal.com]

I think the dealer's statement is idiotic and naive, it triggers a question: was the name or identity of the dealer ever mentioned in the deluge of press in the wake of the Va Tech shootings? If so, that could be why this guy went there to buy his weapon. I fall squarely in the middle when it comes to gun control but I *do not* think that selling weapons over the Internet is good idea; I never have.

Gun control is one small part the gestalt that fed this incident; not the total solution. I'm not even sure that there is a solution since a big part of this problem revolves personal freedom and privacy.


I suspect that since this guy's name is out in the media (again?) you can bet that some other people bent on creating a high profile incident will try to get their hardware from him.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

I agree here.

Also, um, I didn't realize you could buy a GUN over the INTERNET. Don't you need to show ID or something? isn't that the dangerous part? What if I buy the gun and someone else gets it before it gets to me? Can you Fedex a gun?

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

http://www.thegunsource.com/store/Content.aspx?cKey=Buy_Guns_Online
http://hunting.about.com/od/guns/a/aa000127a.htm

You can buy the gun online, but it can only be shipped through the mail to a local dealer, someone who holds a Federal Firearms License, who then is apparently responsible for conducting the necessary background checks.

[fengshui.livejournal.com]

Yep. And I agree that it is frustrating that the article doesn't note that the items shipped directly to the shooter weren't the gun itself.

Now if the .22-caliber pistol was shipped directly to the shooter, then the dealer in question will be getting a visit from the Feds soon, I expect.

If not, then there's someone local to him who received the pistol and charged him $$$ for the background checks.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

You can't, and any newspaper article that claims or implies you can is seriously misstating the facts. You *cannot* purchase a gun in any state except your home state; it's a violation of the Gun Control Act of 1968. This part of GCA68 was in part a response to the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald had purchased his rifle by mail-order.

The shop probably sells some gun *accessories* online, and sells guns in its brick-and-mortar storefront, and the newspaper is conflating that fact by (intentional?) sloppy wording to make people go "OMG PEOPLE CAN BUY A GUN ONLINE" just as you did.

This isn't the first time newspapers have seriously Gotten It Wrong when it comes to firearms laws. Pisses gun owners right the hell off, because it makes it look like they're using news reportage to support a pro-gun-control editorial page position. (And this is why conservatives start spewing about the "liberal media".)

[emboline.livejournal.com]

Are you fucking kidding me?

Nothing more intelligent to say here....I am just gobsmacked!

[cpj.livejournal.com]

The free publicity seems to be working.

Seems to me the guy should be proud.