Trolling for the sake of media attention has always been a known trait of users on the web forum Reddit. But the user “x—-x—x-x” has stretched the boundary for Reddit trolling. Gawker’s Adrian Chen reported Thursday that “x—-x—x-x” posted an AR-15 assault rifle for sale on the subreddit r/gunsforsale. The difference between the assault-style rifle and other guns for sale on the subreddit is not just its similarity to the weapon used in the Newtown, Conn., school massacre. It’s also branded with the Reddit alien logo.
Reddit’s gun trading subreddit has more than 3,000 subscribers. Gun trading online is technically legal if the seller ships the gun to a licensed firearms dealer. As of now, the Reddit gun has been purchased and will be shipped from one federally licensed firearms dealer to another. The shipping dealer is legally responsible for verifying that the receiving dealer is licensed.
Whether Reddit wants its logo branded on a gun associated with the Newtown massacre is another story.
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