Apparently there are people trying to sell guns on Facebook. Or at least one guy was, and then his buyers turned the gun on him.
He’d actually had a posting on his Facebook profile advertising the sale of a .38 revolver Adding to the intrigue, the seller’s a convicted felon on parole, according to CBS Chicago.
The four would-be buyers robbed him while he showed them the gun inside a car. They ordered him to get out of the car and drove off with it.
The victim called the police to report the robbery and the police discovered he’s a felon on parole. Police found the car with the four suspects in it, arrested them and also the paroled felon. All five men are behind bars.
We’re glad to know the Chicago police served justice, but feel less comfortable about the fact that a convicted felon on parole was able to post a weapon for sale on Facebook. Even though the site has done a great job of helping law enforcement fight crime, it’s far from perfect.
In the case of the .38 listing, law enforcement caught up with something that might have been going on for a while. Facebook’s burgeoning marketplace may have included not-so-legal weaponry sales for some time now.
Does Facebook need to create stricter rules about what people can sell on the site? Should this include background checks of sellers?
