EDIT: Response from CoinBase:
John replied: We are currently looking in to this and trying to make a decision on this very topic. Personally, I am all for this and think gun sales through an FFL is just about the safest transaction that can be done on the internet.
No one in the company is against gun sales but as you can imagine with investors, our bank etc we have more than a few interested parties that we have to clear things through.
Hopefully, we’ll have some word soon. You can reach out to me directly
[email protected] vice using our support platform.
Respectfully
John Kothanek
Director
For anyone concerned about buying guns online I can assure you that all the gun laws still apply. The payments may be pseudo-anomyous, but buying a gun is not.
Here is the process I have to go through to get this pistol...
1. Select gun and CALL the store. No sales unless you call and give name, phone, address, etc. Only then can I pay and start the process.
2. Next, go to the gun store that will receive the gun. Not the seller, the FFL transfer agent. There I fill out forms for my background check and show all sorts of ID. I can't get the gun yet however.
3. Now I wait while the gun is shipped and do my federally mandated "cooling off period".
4. Now I can return to the receiving FFL and show my ID again. Assuming I pass the back ground check I can finally receive the gun.
The only difference is paying in BTC. This process is not how criminals get guns. It is a legitimate, gov supervised sale. By the same standard BitPay should not work with pharmacies, liquor stores, places that sell tobacco, etc. These are places that sell dangerous items that may kill people, why are they exempt?