Freecylce and guns

[Mutoman]

Well I opened up a can of worms with my local FreeCycle group, with the FreeCycle postings being over-run with people asking for bird cages, roll top desks, beds, rims for their cars, and other items, I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and ask if anyone was wanting to give away their guns, I would be interested. Yes I had an ulterior motive to find out whether the administrators of the board were afraid of guns.

After not seeing my post on the site for a few days, I decided that I would go fishing by posting this request again, I got a bite finally by someone I do not recognize on the site, a silent administrator perhaps.

Here's the reply I was given: "FYI - to my knowledge one can not ask for guns on freecycle. I will refer this to Mark for a final ruling but that is why your post has not
been posted."

Of course I read through all the rules and regulations before posting my request, I failed to find any mention of not being able to ask for firearms.

I did a little research and this seems to be an issue with other FreeCycle groups. I am not sure why it is an issue, but I plan on finding out. I requested the area of the rules that apply to the administrators position and I am waiting for a reply.

When all is said and done, I believe FreeCycle gives each chapter the right to apply special rules, that being true it is their right to forbid gun trades and sales on their forum. I just wanted to rant and open a discussion on this if anyone finds it worthy.

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[NWMoss]

When all is said and done, I believe FreeCycle gives each chapter the right to apply special rules, that being true it is their right to forbid gun trades and sales on their forum. I just wanted to rant and open a discussion on this if anyone finds it worthy.

So, currently known gun-unfriendly sites:

FreeCycle
Paypal
Ebay
Craigslist (?)

(Is this in the spirit of your thread?)

 

[Mutoman]

Final response, it's nice to see that guns are put in the same category as controlled substances. I replied asking if I could ask for bows, arrows, and knives.


Just a reminder to all: Posts requesting/offering any kind of guns, ammunition, controlled substances of any kind (like left-over prescriptions, etc) or the like are not allowed here by our Freecycle charter, and will not be approved for posting. If you're not sure about something, ask first. Email the info to [email protected].

Everything here also has to be free. No mention of the "M" word (Money) or "B" word (Buy) or even the "P" word (Pay) is permitted at all. If you want something, you want a FREE something. If you want to give away something, you're giving away a FREE something with NO "STRINGS" ATTACHED.

There are currently about 533 active members in the list. It's a big audience, so don't be afraid to ask for something even if it is unusual. With that many people in the list, there is an excellent chance you may find what you want.

Thank you all for making Freecycle great.

Mark Magill
List Owner, Coos_County_Freecycle
Coos Bay, Oregon USA
www.wordforlife.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

 

[dolooper]

I'm a member of Freecycle in Portland.

Off to make a gun request.

 

[dolooper]

Wanted posting for Ruger parts or old Rugers (I like Ruger handguns). We'll see what the moderator for PDX says.

 

[finch6013]

craigslist is against weapons as well but I have posted and sold without a problem. So either I flew in under the radar or they dont check their adds very closely

 

[techieguy]

My wife use to own the Freecycle group here in So. Oregon... What a political mess! From my understanding with the groups, the golden rule with Freecycle is that it must be suitable for all ages. No guns, meds, porn ect... There are other alternative such as re-use it groups http://www.reuseitnetwork.org/us.htm#OR which is a bunch of Freecycle owners who left and started their own yahoo groups but are loosely connected where as the Freecycle groups always had a back door owner who could boot the local owner off...don't ask me how I know

 

[Mutoman]

I just cannot figure out why they think guns are not suitable for their sites. Blind fear I guess.

 

[Doc In UPlace]

So much for M15 grenades then I suppose.

 

[dolooper]

from the Portland moderator.

Sorry, but weapons or any parts of weapons are not allowed on a
Freecycle site. KEEP IT FREE, LEGAL & APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AGES. This
means, for example,

No pornography,
No alcohol,
No tobacco,
No drugs
No firearms or other weapons.

Thank you for understanding,

If their policy is around keeping things legal and appropriate for all ages and the policy is consistently applied, I see no problem with that. Given that they exclude alcohol and tobacco as well, that seems pretty consistent with the policy.

 

[Mutoman]

Well the final word is no weapons of any type on the Freecycle forums. I actually have spent some time talking back and forth to the "silent admin" via email and found that she used to be an avid skeet shooter.

They bought a house in Coquille a few years ago, the former owner had passed away. He had tear gas canisters rigged up around the house and there was a bucket full of old rusty grenades in the garage. They called the police to get rid of the grenades.

I think we found a common ground of understanding the frustration of gun owners feeling the weight of misunderstanding and unreasonableness related to how some people view guns in a negative manner.

Overall I think it is important to reach out in disagreement with some rules related to firearms if we see them being unjustified. There seems to be a misconception among many that believe guns should be included in the "not family friendly" category and we need to voice our opinion against such thinking.