Facebook has become a new avenue for anyone wishing to purchase firearms and a deal can be had in just fifteen minutes, a VentureBeat investigation showed.
Although the actual exchange does not really take place on the social media network, Facebook makes it very easy to look for individuals who are eager to offer you a gun without the legal requirements. The actual buy and sell transaction is then completed in areas where authorities are less likely to be found, like remote country roads, poorly-lit parking areas and diners, the report said.
In Greenup County, Kentucky, Sheriff Keith Cooper learned about the trades when he received a dispatch last October about a 15-year old boy that had been apprehended in Greenup County High School for bringing a loaded and unlicensed 9mm handgun to the campus. When he interviewed the boy, he learned that the kid got the gun from Facebook, the report said.
Apparently, there are a lot of Facebook pages dedicated to the sale and celebration of these weapons which, in turn, facilitate firearm purchases. The Facebook fan pages themselves-Firearms Only Alamogordo, Guns For Sale, I Love Guns and Guns, Ammo & Blades-are clear about their wares. Their members and "likes" also number to the hundreds of thousands, the report said.
Although many of the sales are legal, illegal buyers and sellers can easily connect with each other through these fan pages. Automatic weapons that do not bear permits, guns with erased serial numbers and weapons not allowed under state laws are just some of the guns that can be bought through these hookups, the report said.
VentureBeat did interviews with various authorities and anti-gun groups who expressed concern that social media platforms like Facebook have become unregulated avenues where people who should not own or sell weapons go to. In an interview, a federal law enforcement officer told VentureBeat, "We look at Facebook and others as emerging threats for unlawful gun transactions in the United States."
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