As has been in the news recently, Pastor Rick Warren’s son committed suicide with a firearm. Rick Warren is pastor of a large evangelical Christian church in California and has hosted “a debate” in the past between McCain and Obama IIRC. Anyway, his son had some mental illness issues and recently committed suicide.
This article claims the gun was an illegal, unregistered (this is in Kali) gun bought directly on the internet.
I would suspect craigslist or places like that for the “scratched off serial number” direct to your door illegal guns.
I wouldn’t have a clue myself where to look. But it is interesting. This will most likely be brought up with the current legislation being considered. Not that it would have made any difference in this case. It is already illegal to do most of what was done with this handgun.
I have been wondering the same thing. Any FFL will only ship to another FFL. So that leaves private sales.
I find it hard to believe a buyer would send off money in hopes the seller sent the gun. And I find it hard to believe a seller would ship a gun to a buyer with getting paid first. Not impossible, I guess, but really, really hard to believe.
So that leaves FTF sales that started with a listing somewhere on the internet. In Texas, we have Texas Gun Buyer, which is a listing of WTS and WTB firearms. But there is no actual internet sale as the deal is consumated FTF.
It seems very disingenuous to me for the press to call this an internet sale, but then I can’t depend on the press for accuracy in their reporting anyway. Someone knowledgable in the press needs to call them on this.
The whole background checks for guns bought on the internet…really burns my ass! They make it sound like you give a vendor your CC# and they just mail you a new uzi to your door.
It is just for sale ads on the internet just like the back pages of the newspapers of days gone by.
Paying more attention to the news reports this morning, I see that the information source quoted is the father, Rick Warren, who is claiming it was bought on the Internet.
Since the article included in the link stated that the gun used in the suicide has its serial numbers scratched off, we can safely assume that the whole transaction was illegal.
On a side note, the pastor Rick Warren inspired a Georgia female to clean up her act and also talked her way out of a hostage situation. A few years ago, a criminal escaped from the temporary lock up at the court house in the city of Atlanta. He overpowered a 50 + year old grandmother/sheriff deputy, took her gun and went on a murder spree. He killed the presiding judge in his trial and his court clerk. On the way out of the court house, he killed a sheriff deputy. He escaped north a few miles from the city and stumbled on an off duty ICE agent who was renovating his house. He killed the ICE special agent and stole a car to continue his trip to the northern suburb. He kidnapped the female and held her hostage. She was a former drug addict herself but supposedly went clean due to finding God and Rick Warren’s book. She convinced him to let her go and give himself up. That was the first time that I heard of Rick Warren. I remember that 24 hour period well, all the news were broadcasting the manhunt for the escape killer and cops were all over town looking for the guy.
It must not have been a gun but something else. Maybe a sparrow or shrubbery. Anyone knows that when background checks are mandatory it is IMPOSSIBLE to buy a gun illegally. Can’t happen.