Revealing gun ownership online

[dsb1829]

I have gotten into a debate with my father over this recently. He basically warned me against posting images of my firearms on Facebook.

I told him that my facebook images are only visible to my friends, so that is a non-issue there. However I would keep that in mind on my blog, which is public.

My question becomes should I, as a gun owner, be afraid of online people realizing I have weapons? How is this any different from 1,000 other hobbies that people blog about and participate in forums on? Biggest difference I can think of is that guns are easy to pawn/sell for good money where a lot of other hobby items sell for pennies on the dollar.

Your thoughts?

 

[BADUNAME37]

I have a hard time making up my own mind about things I post on FB. I have uploaded photos of me hunting or shooting, never just of a gun by itself, and all my settings are set to "Friends Only" so, unless you are one of my 47 friends, you won't see anything about me anyway. I have posted hunting and shooting pictures in an album, then had second thoughts and deleted said album, then created another for a while, deleted and so on. Currently, I have no shooting or hunting pictures posted (I realize once you upload anything to FB it is theirs to do whatever they want to with it, forever).

Why do you have your blogs public? I'm just asking, as you can make everything visible only to Friends if you want to. If you are not one of my 'friends' then all you might see is my profile picture and my name. Everything else I have set to only friends. Even my profile picture is not of me but is a picture of one of my pets!

 

[BADUNAME37]

I say, do whatever you feel comfortable doing, bearing in mind that anything uploaded to FB is their property, forever.

Some people don't use FB for that very reason. Well, anything we post on the internet may very well be here forever, including every email we send and receive, so what is really the difference?

If someone thinks telephones are the safest way to communicate, think again.

I think smoke signals may be the best way as there is no record that I know of that keeps track of those, except for possibly one of various tens of thousands of satellites orbiting the earth.

 

[Dr_B]

Anything you put online, regardless of the forum, is there for public consumption. I generally don't put photos of things I own online, post pictures of my house, tell people when I will be out of town, etc... But recently I have broken that rule and posted a couple of gun pics here on THR. I wouldn't put gun stuff on Facebook though.

 

[kingpin008]

Ask him what he thinks will happen if you post those pics. Then do whatever you feel comfortable doing.

 

[AZ]

I'm conflicted on this matter as well. I've considered making youtube videos reviewing guns, gear and so forth but feel it is much too open a forum to display the guns I own. I don't have any pictures of my guns on FB, not really for security reasons though. I suppose participation in this forum alone is enough to announce that you own firearms to the internet. Oh well, can't always be 100% secure.

 

[forindooruseonly]

I post pics of my guns pretty regularly here on THR and on my blog, but not on my facebook. My facebook is tied to my name, while stuff on here and my blog is relatively anonymous. Yes, people could probably find out my name eventually, if they put enough work into it, but it won't be easy for them. And as far as the government goes, well, they already have my fingerprints and tax money, plus my CCW and all the transfer forms I've filled out, so I guess hiding from them doesn't make any sense.

My main concern with posting pics on FB is that it ties those guns to my name in my hometown, where here or on my blog it just ties them to "forindooruseonly" on the interwebz. Last thing I need is one of my FB friends showing their stupid cousin some cool gun that he'll want to come try and steal. My friends that I shoot with know what I generally have, and its no one else's business.

 

[Shadow 7D]

I have another hobby (rabbits) tied to my FB, I don't really post much gunwise there (unless you are asking me about slaughtering an animal)

As much of my potential market for my animals are people like me, or 10 year olds and their parents. Don't really want 'scary' pictures of me chasing away some 4H girl.

 

[clutch]

If you post on FB and have friended people, you are known, your location is known, your work shift, place of work, if your home is unoccupied when you are away is known. Seriously, your 'friends' know a lot about you especially if they are in contact with you face to face. It seems the nature of face book that you friend those you know personally. I have avoided the thing for personal security reasons.

Posting on the high road is a bit different. Unless you reveal information that will identify you, you are just another handle on the internet. I like it that way.

Clutch

PS

Facebook can change its terms of service at anytime, what may be private today might not be private tomorrow.

 

[Apocalypse-Now]

i don't bother with facebook. i find it pointless to add thousands of people i don't know to a "friends list" as some sort of geek status symbol. i also don't like my identity and personal things about me on a public internet site.


don't "tweet" either. why would people want to know that i'm microwaving a hotdog?



if you post gun images, just block out the serial number.

 

[Shadow 7D]

ah, yes, but then, if you aren't blood, or a personal friend, you aren't a online friend, that said, I have 2 that my wife added so she could vote my account for some stupid picture thing. But those are HER childhood friends, and most of them have pics of their hubbies/brothers/dads with guns, but then that's what you get for marrying a redneck.

 

[ObsidianOne]

I'm a bit wary of Facebook. But only in a small sense of things.
I'll post pictures of going shooting with friends, pictures of their guns and my guns, but I don't keep an album of my full inventory. In my eyes, that would be just saying "Hey, check it out, if you break into my house, this is what you get!".
However, I've seen people overly paranoid about even posting WHAT they have, not even PICTURES, just a listing on forums.
Honestly, don't give enough information to connect the dots with on the internet.

 

[FROGO207]

Anything that you put out on the internet is able to be tracked back to you if the need is great enough. Mostly not probable but still able to be. So put only what you would be willing for the world to find out and you will be OK. Going down to the local druggie bar and discussing how you care for your collection of 700 handguns would be a dumb move I would think but how many of you will talk hunting/reloading in public place where you would be known by a potential thief or such on a regular basis. Might surprise you who is listening if you pay more attention. Some years ago I was discussing a couple valuable vintage records I owned with two friends at a local fast food joint. Then we went shopping that afternoon as a group. When I got home the door was kicked in and only those records and a bottle of rum were missing. No cash or firearms were taken. I know these friends did not do it. The waitress was a friend that I went out with sometimes and she had a key. So who and why then unless another heard our conversation and acted? I treat the internet as a big room full of people who may want to harm or steal from me if they get an edge, I never give them the chance anymore.

 

[ChCx2744]

The only time I post pictures of my guns online is when I am trying to sell them, and even in those, I make sure the side without the serial number is displayed. After the gun gets sold, I delete the picture. The only exception would be this forum, where I can share my pictures with other gun enthusiasts, as they have had the courtesy to share theirs with others as well.

 

[Ramone]

Are Firearms SNs linked to ownership in any publicly searchable DB?

I usually photochop them out, but a few times I've wondered why.

On FB there are a few pics, but my physical location is pretty diffuse, so I don't have the issues of most people.

 

[Shovelhead]

Facebook pages are only as secure as the Government Intel Agencies allow it to be.
Not trying to be a "Tin Foil Hatter".
But I'm not buring my head in the sand either.

Remember this guy?


The Military Sipernet is MUCH more secure than Facebook.

 

[Owen Sparks]

Some guy in my town was foolish enough to post the itinerary of his upcoming two week vacation to Europe on Facebook and someone backed a truck up to his house and cleaned out all of his valuables while he was gone. BE CAREFUL!

 

[Gordon_Freeman]

I won't even open up a facebook account.

 

[THE DARK KNIGHT]

What negative effect can posting gun related pictures on facebook have?

Will a job not hire you as a result of such? That's about the only credible threat. Aside from that, what, do you think the super secret gubmint spies gon get you? And if so, what evidence do you have to demonstrate that this is anything but pointless paranoia?

 

[Vaarok]

I regard it all as pretty silly paranoia. It can be used against you, but so can a NRA bumper sticker, not having a car in the driveway, being seen at a gunshop, or...

Honestly, I've gotten too many people involved in the shooting sports, largely through my unabashed ambassadorship and use of social networking sites to even consider them a bad thing.

I've in several instances had a friend or acquaintance from far away (other states, Canada) express interest, and through my network of contacts, been able to hook them up with instruction, advice, and get them involved. Facebook posts of "hooray funshow!" and "lookit what I got!" have served to instill curiosity, admiration, jealousy, and numerous other spurs to fence-leaners and the curious but timid.

And to date I've had exactly one problem- my cousin's boyfriend became confused and vaguely threatened that I had semiautomatic rifles in NY, because in PA, where he lives, you can't hunt with them.

Meanwhile, I can point to several instances where friends got into the hobby because of me, then recruited more friends through their own channels, and then bounced back to me. Social networking at its finest.

For that matter, I moderate KEEP YOUR LAWS OFF MY GUNS, a fifty-plus thousand member gun group on Facebook. Yes, few of those members are active, but it's a great way for newbies not to be intimidated.

There are no dumb questions in the era of Google and where you can seek out an expert in minutes, and draw on someone you already know and trust for guidance... If they're open about it.

Besides, if I was all paranoid about my firearm ownership, Wikipedia articles about guns would be much uglier.

 

[kingpin008]

The Military Sipernet is MUCH more secure than Facebook.

You do realize that Pfc. Manning was able to harvest the information that he leaked by simply using passwords that were stuck to the computers with Post-it notes, right?

While that's certainly not standard protocol for secured networks (gov't or otherwise), you can't honestly use that incident as a comparison to Facebook security.

 

[Owen Sparks]

The problem with Facebook is it can let potential thieves know what you have and when you are not home. (all they have to know is when you are at work)

 

[Shovelhead]

My point is, Sipernet is "Secure" and can be easily violated, what chance does a public networking site like Facebook have of being "Secure"?

 

[kingpin008]

My point is, Sipernet is "Secure" and can be easily violated, what chance does a public networking site like Facebook have of being "Secure"?

I get that, but the situation with Sipernet was an anomaly. I seriously doubt that most web-based companies allow security to become as lax as it was in the Manning case.

Either way, the possibility of a breach is ever-present, regardless of the site(s) one uses. Should we all stop using amazon.com, sending email, or using online banking because a breach "could" happen? There has to be a point at which we look at what info we're already sharing, and say "yeah, posting a few gun pics isn't that big of a deal".

 

[Vaarok]

Denying yourself a useful tool because you're scared of it seems ironic.