UK: "Crooks use eBay to smuggle guns"

[cuchulainn]

from Internet Magazine

http://www.internet-magazine.com/news/view.asp?id=3788

November 2003
Crooks use eBay to smuggle guns

Criminals are using auction sites such as eBay to smuggle guns into the UK, a parliamentary report is to reveal.

Although eBay bans the sale of firearms, it does not ban the sale of component parts. According to The Sunday Times, which has seen the report, private mail companies are used to bring these parts into the country, where they are put together into working firearms. Private mail companies do not have to have customs officers on their premises.

"This loophole is a potential route for illicit weapons into the UK and should be addressed," the report, published by the parliamentary group on gun crime, says.

Robert Chesnut, vice-president of eBay’s trust and safety department, told The Sunday Times: "We do have users who are not aware of our policies and they will try to list firearms on eBay. We are regularly watching the site to take down such items."

© Emap Consumer Media Limited 2003

 

[Standing Wolf]

Maybe the English should just prohibit all subjects from having internet access: that'd sure solve their soaring violent crime rates!

 

[Wildalaska]

What a joke.....

WildtryingtobangunpartssalesonebayarenttheyAlaska

 

[El Tejon]

Technology, it's the Devil!

Ban brains now! Oops already been done.

 

[Telperion]

Ah, the British; they should just ban any piece of milled metal weighing more than 1 gram. Exemptions may be applied for in writing to the Home Office.

 

[P95Carry]

Not much point in adding really ... OMG .... that is one f**ked up nation and Gov ...... and - I was born there (shame smilie).

They have brought so much on themselves ... and still don't seem to see it.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

You mean they outlawed guns, and now outlaws are getting guns?

What a novel concept. There's a bumper-sticker slogan in there somewhere.

DOH!

I'm sure that eBay is only one of a zillion ways to smuggle guns into England. Guns are just steel, oil, and plastic or wood. So they are chemically identical to washing machines, automobiles, any other imported machinery. I don't think there are gun-sniffing dogs that can detect an unfired or well-cleaned gun.

Regards.