Kerby Anderson

Yesterday I talked about a few pieces of legislation that might actually stem gun violence. There is another issue that also deserves attention. How many criminals and potential mass shooters are getting their guns through online gun sales?

One report from a number of years ago suggested that this was a potential problem. That is why two members of Congress (Representative Elijah Cummings and Senator Elizabeth Warren) asked the GAO to investigate. In November, they completed their two-and-a-half year investigation.

During the operation, undercover buyers revealed information during their transaction that indicated they should not be allowed to purchase a firearm. That means they pretended to be felons or individuals with domestic violence or outstanding restraining orders or addicts or unlawful users of controlled substances or people who were dishonorably discharged from the military.

Ultimately, there were 72 total purchase attempts that were made with these online vendors. How many of the purchase attempts succeeded? The number would be zero. Most of the sellers (in 56 cases) refused to complete the transaction. In another 5, the cases were “frozen.” And in the remaining 11 cases, it seems that the sellers wanted to take their money without actually delivering the firearm.

I might add that another part of the study looked into the “dark web.” Criminals and terrorists sometimes visit this dark place on the Internet where content has been intentionally concealed and special computer software is needed to access it. In that case, the GAO did complete 2 transactions. Both were referred for further investigation.

For years, we have been hearing stories about the dangerous “wild, wild, web.” It turns out that it may not be as much of a problem when it comes to gun sales.