At 10:56 PM 3/23/99 -0500, "bluoval" wrote:
"Barry A. Watzman" wrote:
E-Bay banned fire arms for two reasons:
Are these reasons official?
> First, they couldn't do the background checks or check for stolen
weapons.
A legally valid reason, but likely an excuse. Second, if someone
were assaulted with a weapon bought on E-Bay, the way things are going,
E-Bay could be sued, and lose, BIG TIME. That's probably the real reason.
The first is a given, but its not an excuse, its the law. The second is
ridiculous,
if Ebay sells the firearms lawfully. How could someone sue
Ebay for the sale of a firearm used in a crime? That's like suing a gun
store for selling a gun to a person who robbed a bank with it.
Not as rediculous as it may seem. There have been lots of gun stores sued
for that reason. In fact, Walmart was sued for that exact thing a few years
ago and they quit carrying handguns because of that suit.
Unless Ebay doesn't sell the gun(s) according to the
law, Ebay will win.
They will probably win but you have to consider the legal costs. E-bay
is a business and if it costs more than they make on gun sales then they'll
drop the gun sales.
Sure, you can sue anyone for anything, but chances are the person suing
Ebay for
>something like that, and winning, is not likely at all!
But E-OverPay isn't willing to take that risk.
Joe