eBay to Restrict Most Gun Parts

The massive online commerce Web site eBay has announced it is expanding its restrictions for the listing of gun-related items to include “any firearm part that is required for the firing of a gun,” effective mid-August.

The move is in apparent reaction to the shooting tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech earlier this year, after it was revealed that some of the items used by the killer might have been acquired on eBay.

In an announcement posted on eBay this past Monday, Matt Halprin, eBay’s Vice-President of Trust & Safety, revealed that restricted items will include “bullet tips, brass casings and shells, barrels, slides, cylinders, magazines, firing pins and trigger assemblies.”

Specifically citing the Virginia Tech shooting rampage, Halprin wrote that eBay executives determined that the policy change was “the right thing to do.”

Though the popular Web site has never been known as being particularly “gun-friendly,” it was considered by many to be a good source of firearm replacement parts, magazines, accessories and hard-to-find items necessary for gun repair.

It’s a shame the eBay corporate suits and lawyers can’t see beyond their own apparent firearm prejudice to realize that their decision will do absolutely nothing to prevent some weapons from getting into the hands of deranged killers and criminals. Instead, it will only drive legitimate business and honest customers away from its company’s site, presumably to a more tolerant online site adhering to a decidedly logical interpretation of the Second Amendment.