If a private party is making an online/interstate transaction he or she is supposed to route it through a FFL, who will conduct the required background check. Unsurprisingly it seems that some apparently unknown percentage of buyers/sellers are ignoring that requirement.
Online Gun Transactions The want ads posted by the anonymous buyer on Armslist.com, a sprawling free classified ads Web site for guns, telegraphed urgency.
Feb. 20: “Got 250 cash for a good handgun something.reliable.”
Feb. 27: “I got 200 250 cashlooking for a good handgun please let me know what u got.”
Feb. 28: “Looking to buy some 9 mm ammo and not at a crazy price.”
The intentions and background of the prospective buyer were hidden, as is customary on such sites. The person posting these ads, however, left a phone number, enabling The New York Times to trace them to their source: Omar Roman-Martinez, 29, of Colorado Springs, who has a pair of felony convictions for burglary and another for motor vehicle theft, as well as a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction — all of which bar him from having guns. Yet he was so determined he even offered to trade a tablet computer or a vintage Pepsi machine for firearms.
When questioned in a telephone interview, Mr. Roman-Martinez said he ultimately decided not to buy a weapon. He also insisted that a 9-millimeter handgun he posted for sale on the Web site last month belonged to someone else.
“I’m a felon,” he said. “I can’t possess firearms.”....
