Dark web gun sellers make illegal firearms sales to undercover GAO agents

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) made two firearms purchases on the dark web without disclosing required background information during a recent review of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ability to regulate online firearm sales.

The GAO review was requested by members of Congress. Its aim was to determine how well ATF enforces existing gun laws and whether online gun sellers are selling firearms to individuals who are not legally allowed to possess them.

The GAO study also examined the ATF’s Internet Investigation Center. The center targets buyers and sellers of weapons who use the surface web, which is available to the general public, and the dark web, which requires specific software to access, to make illegal transactions.

GAO agents made seven attempts to purchase firearms on the dark web. In each transaction, agents didn’t disclose background information about their eligibility to possess a firearm. Two of those attempts were successful.

“Specifically, GAO agents purchased and received an AR-15 rifle and an Uzi that the seller said was modified so that it would fire automatically,” GAO stated. “GAO provided referral letters to applicable law-enforcement agencies for these purchases to inform any ongoing investigations.

GAO investigators also attempted to purchase firearms through private gun sellers on the surface web. Sellers were identified and contact through gun forums and through classified ads.

“Of the 72 attempts agents made to purchase firearms on the surface web, 56 sellers refused to complete a transaction: 29 sellers stated they would not ship a firearm and 27 refused after the disclosure of the undercover identities’ stated prohibited status,” GAO stated. “Furthermore, in five of these 72 attempts, the accounts GAO set up were frozen by the websites, which prevented the agents from using the forums and attempting to make a purchase.”