Internet vendors sell disguised gun parts despite rules to prevent it

A recent investigation by Vice News revealed that internet vendors are using Amazon to sell banned accessories for guns, disguising them as other objects.

The Vice publication detailed particularly brazen example-stabilizing braces being sold under the guise of bicycle handlebars, complete with images of the gun accessory in the announcements.

According to the article, the news outlet found over two dozen posts offering the accessory with fast shipping, meaning the company stored them in its warehouse.

Stabilizing braces are attachments for AR-style pistols that allow the shooter to support the weapon on their shoulder and use it like a rifle. Some advertised them as gunsmithing tools.

Still, the comments Remarks cited by Vice used the euphemism "bike" to refer to guns by saying shouldering the "handlebar" allows for "more driving accuracy."

Stabilizing braces is a particularly troubling example because the Biden administration banned accessory use in unregistered firearms.

According to AP News, the ruling requires all gun owners to register their firearms with stabilizing braces and pay a fee or remove the accessory.

According to Vice News, using an unregistered firearm with a stabilizing brace is a serious felony that can result in up to 10 years in prison.

AP News said that the rule was one of several Biden promised after a man killed ten people in a Colorado supermarket in 2021. The shooter was using a stabilizing brace.

The news agency recounted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives said the accessory can make pistols as dangerously powerful and easy to conceal as short-barreled rifles.

Still, stabilizing braces are not the only firearm accessory sold online through large platforms, violating their rules.

A 2010 Washington Post investigation found that online vendors offered a wide range of products, from firearms to rounds of ammunition, in Google Shopping and Amazon.

The article particularly mentioned rifle magazines (attachments that allow firearms to hold more bullets), including models with significant capacities.

The investigation also mentioned boxes of shotgun rounds or ammunition belts. After the newspaper's inquiry, Google eliminated the listings, and Amazon did the same.

Accessories can make them more precise and deadlier. According to NBC, for that reason, highly customizable models like the AR-15 are often a source of political divide inside the country.

Gun violence has become a true health crisis in the US, with more than 43,000 people dying from it in 2023. ABC said during that year, Americans witnessed more than 600 mass shootings.

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