The Business of Guns

Text-Dependent Questions

1. What other products, aside from firearms, are banned from exchange on eBay? 2. What is the ratio between prohibited persons who try to buy a gun online, and those who try to buy a gun at a physical store? 3. Who would serve as middlemen for gun sales under the Manchin–Toomey bill?

Research Projects

1. Research any gun-sale website not mentioned in this chapter. Write a report about its history, its structure, its sales volume, and how it connects buyers and sellers. Can you purchase a gun directly from this site, or can you only contact a seller? What are the requirements, if any, for background checks? 2. Research any law passed at the state or federal level specifically limiting Internet sales (on firearms if possible, or on other restricted goods if necessary). How was this law passed? Who advocated for it? How did it change the exchange of illegal guns or other restricted goods on the Internet?

Chapter 4: The Internet

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