It's their business, if you don't like it, don't use it.
I have no problem with this, and I don't if it's at all avoidable.
Selling a Car online doesn't have as much red-tape as does selling a gun, across state lines, county lines, etc. etc.
While the laws vary from state to state, in general that statement is not true, especially with respect to shotguns and rifles. With respect to cross state sales, as long as the sale was legal in the seller's state and as long as the seller shipped it to a federally licensed dealer, then the seller is in the clear (in general - one
can construct fantasy situations where that would not be true). It's the receiving dealer's and the buyer's responsibility to comply with the laws of the state in which it is received, and with federal law (the latter requiring completing a 30-second form and a two minute phone call).
A person with 10 DUI's can still purchase a car. Is Paypal going to do a full background check on every bidder of a gun purchase to make sure they can legally own a gun, or they are actually who they say they are, or it's getting delivered to the correct address, or, or, or....
That argument is specious. There is no requirement that any of that be checked by any bank, credit card company, post office, loan shark, loser at Wednesday night poker, or any one else from whom the seller obtains funds to purchase a gun. PayPal was not required to do such checks when they allowed you to use their service to pay for gun-related items, and they would not be required to do so now. The same would apply to EBay.
The fact of the matter is that Ms Whitman made the current policy because she doesn't want law abiding citizens to be able to defend themselves from violent criminals, or shoot Bambi's mother, without regard to the legality or necessity of either act. It will be somewhat interesting to see what, if anything, happens now that she is gone.
