The online bazaar bans firearm sales, but sellers post their wares as high-priced ‘cases’ or ‘boxes’

1. Gun Sellers Are Sneaking Onto
Facebookʼs Booming Secondhand
Marketplace
The online bazaar bans firearm sales, but sellers
post their wares as high-priced ‘casesʼ or ‘boxesʼ
By Parmy Olson and Zusha Elinson Aug. 20, 2019 11;33 am ET
Some gun sellers are getting around Facebook Marketplace guidelines by disguising listings for firearms as gun
cases or boxes at inflated prices.
An online gun bazaar is taking shape on Facebook Inc. ʼs Marketplace, as
recent mass shootings have renewed the debate in Washington over
access to firearms.
Facebook launched its Marketplace feature four years ago, allowing its
more than two billion users to buy and sell almost any secondhand item
by clicking a button on their home page. The private sale of many items,

2. including guns, are specifically forbidden by Facebook rules.
But sellers are getting around that with a simple trick: They list gun cases
or boxes at inflated prices. Those postings have become code for the real
thing, while in many instances evading Facebook efforts to screen
postings for banned items. Sellers, via private messages, describe the
more valuable content, the gun itself, with would-be buyers and hash out
a deal.
Earlier this month, one seller in Lincolnton, N.C., posted a photo on
Marketplace of a hard, gray case with the title “Gun case,” asking $950.
A similar case has a retail cost of $30. The seller, in an interview with The
Wall Street Journal conducted over Facebook Messenger, said that he
was really selling an AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle.
A screen grab of a posting made in early August 2019 from a seller in Lincolnton, N.C., on Facebook
Marketplace for a $950 Flambeau gun case. The case retails at around $30.
He shared a photo of the rifle, laid out on a bed alongside more than 670
rounds of ammunition, six magazines—and the case. Within two hours of
posting the case on Marketplace, he said he received more than 30
inquiries, from as far away as Spartanburg, S.C. The seller said he found
an interested buyer in Charlotte, N.C., last week, but a meeting

3. A photo shared with The Wall Street Journal of the
actual rifle for sale by the seller in Lincolnton, N.C.
He said itʼs a Panther DPMS Oracle AR-15, along
with more than 670 rounds of ammunition.
Share Your Thoughts
Should guns be banned on Facebook
Marketplace in the first place? Join the
conversation below.
scheduled for the weekend fell through and he has yet to sell the firearm.
The disguised gun postings could
raise fresh scrutiny over Facebookʼs
ability to police the growing e-
commerce business. Founder Mark
Zuckerberg has big ambitions for the
service as Facebookʼs primary ad
revenues have begun to slow.
A spokeswoman for Facebook said
the social-media giant takes
immediate action against individuals
caught selling guns on the
Marketplace platform and removes
violating content, but didnʼt discuss
specifics. She didnʼt comment
specifically on the gun-case tactic.
“Selling guns on Facebook is a clear
violation of our policies,” the
spokeswoman said, and “people
buying and selling on Marketplace
must comply with all local laws.”
Facebook uses both humans and
machine learning to screen content on
Marketplace, according to the
spokeswoman.
The spokeswoman said its enforcement of its policy “will never be
perfect, but we are always looking for ways to improve our policies and
enforcement.”
Ease of access to guns has come
under renewed scrutiny by
Democratic lawmakers in the wake of

4. recent mass shootings in Dayton,
Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, that killed 31 people and injured dozens more.
The Democratic-controlled House passed a bill earlier this year to require
universal background checks, but it is unlikely to pass the Republican-
controlled Senate. There is no indication that any of the people
responsible for the recent mass shootings acquired their guns via
Facebook.
While federal law doesnʼt require background checks for private sales of
firearms, many states do. Firearm sales across state borders are
supposed to be funneled through federally licensed gun dealers, who
must undergo background checks themselves, though prosecution for
private, interstate gun sales are rare.
Individuals barred by federal and state restrictions from owning guns
have long turned to the internet—exchanges, chat forums and social-
media sites—to arrange one-on-one transactions, allowing them to avoid
checks. Now, Facebook Marketplace has morphed into a more
mainstream meeting place for buyers and sellers looking to make such
deals.
“Itʼs another internet platform that allows prohibited people to acquire
firearms with anonymity,” said David Chipman, senior policy adviser at
the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun-control group.

5. A screenshot of an example of listings that came up after a search in mid-August for ‘empty boxesʼ in Atlanta.
The two circled items are priced at more than $400 and are for boxes featuring gun brands.
An analysis of the search term “gun case” earlier this month found
dozens of overpriced cases on Marketplace, across 10 major cities in the
U.S. The cases were priced in the range of $300 to $2,000 for products
that normally retailed at $20 to $50. The analysis was conducted by
Storyful, a social-media intelligence agency owned by News Corp , which
also owns The Wall Street Journal.
A search in Atlanta on Aug. 9, for instance, for “gun case” resulted in
three matches within 100 miles. Facebookʼs recommendations algorithm,
which tracks what products people click on to suggest new ones they
might like, channeled many more, from Georgia as well as Tennessee,
Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi.
When conducting a search for “gun case” in Atlanta, 21 of the first 24
recommended products showing under Facebookʼs “You May Also Like”
section were overpriced gun cases. For St. Louis, 19 out of the first 24
products recommended by Facebook on the same day were overpriced

6. cases.
A gun seller in Clyde, Texas, said in an interview with the Journal over
Facebook Messenger that he had received 70 inquiries over one month
for a Remington sniper rifle he wanted to sell. He said it had been viewed
2,000 times as of Aug. 14. The Pelican brand case it came in, which
retails new at roughly $270, was listed on Facebook Marketplace for
$4,500.
Buying guns online is hardly novel. One of the biggest online sites for
buying firearms is Armslist.com, which displays gun listings from private
sellers. In theory, arms sellers could use all sorts of online marketplaces
for selling guns including eBay and Craigslist, though both sites also ban
gun sales.
The Journal didnʼt do an analysis of either of these two popular
secondhand marketplaces, but cursory searches of both didnʼt bring up
similar postings of expensive gun cases.
A spokesman for eBay said that the practice of selling gun cases for
inflated prices on its site, in the place of real firearms, “does not occur on
eBay due to our enforcement efforts.”
A spokesman for Armslist.com said that the vast majority of its users visit
the site for lawful activity. The spokesman said that Armslist requires all
users to obey federal and local laws on firearm sales, and that it
“frequently and prominently” provides contact information for the
Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on its
website, for users who spot illegal sales.
Craigslist didnʼt respond to requests for comment.
Facebook Marketplace is a giant among online secondhand goods
marketplaces, with one in three people in the U.S. visiting the site each
month, according to Facebook.
Facebook announced in early 2016 that it would ban the private sale of

7. guns on its broader social-media platform, after controversy over users
selling weapons through its “Groups” feature. Licensed sellers, such as
gun stores, were allowed to keep Facebook pages. Later that year,
Facebook launched Marketplace, a section of the site where users could
buy and sell secondhand goods in a manner similar to Craigslist.
Facebook apologized on launch day after users started posting guns and
drugs on the site. The company said it would update its system to
remove such postings.
A screen grab of a Marketplace listing in early August 2019 for a $20 ‘Empty lock boxʼ from a seller in Toccoa,
Ga. In a private message exchange, the seller told the Journal he was selling a P220 semiautomatic pistol.
Another seller in Toccoa, Ga., in mid-August described only an “Empty
Lock Box,” priced at $20. A photo of the box showed the logo for SIG
Sauer, a firearms manufacturer. In a private message exchange, the seller
told the Journal he was selling a P220 semiautomatic pistol.
Facebookʼs recommendation algorithm can also ensnarl shoppers who
arenʼt looking for guns. Rob Disner, a sound mixer in Atlanta, first noticed
postings for empty boxes that cost hundreds of dollars earlier this year,
when he was browsing for guitars.

8. “I probably saw dozens before asking, ‘Why is a plastic case $650?ʼ”
said Mr. Disner. As he started clicking on the boxes out of curiosity, more
started to appear on his Marketplace feed. “Now I see gun cases all the
time,” he said.
Mr. Disner flagged the posts over the course of several weeks to
Facebook. He said about half of the postings he flagged were taken
down.
Write to Parmy Olson at parmy.olson@wsj.com and Zusha Elinson at
zusha.elinson@wsj.com