3 ms·

> security-through-obscurity I think you're misunderstanding the motive behind these rules. I don't think these bans are meant to make society safer, but inst

> security-through-obscurity I think you're misunderstanding the motive behind these rules. I don't think these bans are meant to make society safer, but instead they're meant to reduce the risk of "The Killer/Thief bought his tools and weapons off Amazon" headlines. Many of their rules are simply weird; for instance the rules permit selling a glock holster but not a glock magazine. I think this is all about balancing the risk of reputational harm with their desire to profit, not about security at all. Which explains why their enforcement of many of these rules is lackluster, having the rule officially is the most important part. If some newspaper does decide to blame Amazon for providing the tools for a crime, Amazon can at least claim to be the victim of a third party seller violating their rules.

eindiran 4y ago
I'm not sure the Glock holster vs Glock magazine example supports your claim at all; there are a huge number of regulations surrounding magazines around the world and even within the US that mean the same magazine legal in Montana is banned in CA, CT, NY, etc. It is far easier to blanket ban selling regulated gun parts than to try to enforce the rules for each place. I'm not aware of anywhere that Amazon is operating where a holster is a prohibited item; certainly nowhere in the US.
- stametseater 4y ago
  Maybe in the case of magazines they have legal motivation to prohibit it, but there are many prohibited firearm accessories for which that isn't a plausible explanation. For instance they forbid ejection port covers. I think this is probably because they often have edgy shit written on them: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=ejection+port+cover+&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=ejection+port+cover+&iax=im... Such ejection port covers have been the subject of public controversy: https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/youre-fucked-acquittal-officer-brailsford-and https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/youre-fucked-a... Also, they explicitly permit the sale of some items which have geographic restrictions, such as airsoft guns, replica and toy guns, and night vision or infrared scopes. I think these are probably all county wide restrictions rather than state specific (night vision cannot be exported due to ITAR, for instance), but I could be wrong.

eindiran 4y ago

I'm not sure the Glock holster vs Glock magazine example supports your claim at all; there are a huge number of regulations surrounding magazines around the world and even within the US that mean the same magazine legal in Montana is banned in CA, CT, NY, etc. It is far easier to blanket ban selling regulated gun parts than to try to enforce the rules for each place. I'm not aware of anywhere that Amazon is operating where a holster is a prohibited item; certainly nowhere in the US.

stametseater 4y ago
Maybe in the case of magazines they have legal motivation to prohibit it, but there are many prohibited firearm accessories for which that isn't a plausible explanation. For instance they forbid ejection port covers. I think this is probably because they often have edgy shit written on them: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=ejection+port+cover+&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=ejection+port+cover+&iax=im... Such ejection port covers have been the subject of public controversy: https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/youre-fucked-acquittal-officer-brailsford-and https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/youre-fucked-a... Also, they explicitly permit the sale of some items which have geographic restrictions, such as airsoft guns, replica and toy guns, and night vision or infrared scopes. I think these are probably all county wide restrictions rather than state specific (night vision cannot be exported due to ITAR, for instance), but I could be wrong.