Firearms Weapons and Knives Policy


Policy overview

Most weapons can’t be sold on Buy N Sell LOCAL due to national and international laws, so our policies reflect this. Bear in mind that to safeguard the community, we may also prohibit the listing of other related items that are legal to sell outside of Buy N Sell LOCAL.

Please see the What are the guidelines? section below for a comprehensive list of what is and isn’t allowed.

Make sure your listing follows our guidelines. If it doesn’t, it may be removed, and your buying and selling privileges could be restricted.

What are the guidelines?

Ammunition
Live ammunition and ammunition components can’t be listed. See the list below for details.

Allowed

  • Plastic, rubber and wooden ammunition

  • Snap caps

Restricted

  • Empty ammunition boxes. The listing needs to say the item doesn’t contain ammunition.

Not allowed

Items that are not allowed include but are not limited to:

  • Blank, dummy, live or inert ammunition

  • Bullets

  • Cartridges

  • Casings

  • Gunpowder

  • Hulls

  • Primer

  • Reloading equipment, including items such as dies and moulds

  • Shells

 BB guns, pellet guns and air rifles
We don’t allow listings for Airsoft guns, BB guns, pellet guns, or air rifles because they generally shoot a projectile.

Not allowed

  • Air rifles, air guns or air pistols

  • Airsoft rifles or Airsoft guns

  • Any frame or receiver for a BB gun or air rifle

  • BB guns

  • Pellet guns

Explosives, grenades and military items
We do not permit the sale of weapons issued and formerly used by the military as we cannot confirm that the item has effectively and permanently altered for lawful and safe transport and sale.
We also don’t allow items specifically intended for a military application which neither have predominant civil applications nor performance equivalent to those of an article or service used for civil applications.

Not allowed

  • Ordnance, military weaponry (such as grenades and landmines), ammunition and related parts, and most military vehicles including aircraft and ships, even if it has been made ‘unserviceable’ or has been ‘de-militarised’ or ‘de-milled’.

  • Articles or services specifically designed, developed, configured, adapted or modified for a military application.

    Examples of items not allowed on Buy N Sell LOCAL include night vision goggles, body armour, technical data manuals, gas masks, and protective clothing which have significant military or intelligence applicability.

  • Military items listed by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR):

    • US federal laws and regulations strictly control the import and the export of certain military items and information manufactured and developed in the United States, whether or not the buyer or seller are located in the United States. In addition to prohibiting the listing of military ordnance and other weapons and equipment listed, sellers are not allowed to list any items or information covered by Part 121 of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), also known as the United States Munitions List. We advise sellers to review ITAR Part 121. If the item you want to list is included on the United States Munitions List, it isn’t allowed on Buy N Sell LOCAL.

    • The sale of any information, technical data, instruction manuals, or any other military data covered by ITAR Part 121 in any format is strictly prohibited.

  • Metal replica hand grenades

  • Atom or nuclear weapons

  • Explosives

  • Flamethrowers

  • Missiles, rockets, or launchers

Firearms

 Actual firearms can’t be listed on Buy N Sell LOCAL. However, some accessories for firearms are okay to sell, but only under certain conditions. See the list below for more details.

Allowed

  • Bulletproof vests/ flak jackets

  • Magazine holders, moon clips, speed loaders or stripper clips

Restricted

  • Accessories for guns such as butt plates, cleaning supplies, holsters, pistol grips, racks, scopes, slings, stocks, storage cases or trigger guards. The listing must include a description of the type of firearm the accessory or part is used for. If it doesn’t, the listing may be removed.

  • Muzzle loader or black powder gun parts or accessories, as long as each item is offered in one listing at a time. (However, having separate listings for items that can be used to build a gun is prohibited.)

Not allowed

Items that are not allowed include, but are not limited to:

  • Firearms regardless of their ability to fire, how old they are, or their status as collectables

  • Parts or accessories for assault weapons. Listings that mention capability with an assault weapon, even if the part or accessory fits non-assault weapons, are also prohibited.

  • Firearms include all component parts of a firearm, sporting, collectable, curio & relic, signalling pistols, and antique firearms

  • Any item that is designed to discharge any shot, bullet or other missile

  • Any listing for a firearm accessory which contains a picture of the firearm itself

  • Converters (items that can be used to give a firearm automatic firing capability)

  • Gun parts, including, but not limited to:

    • Barrels

    • Choke tubes

    • Cylinders

    • Firing pins

    • Frames, including grip frames

    • Magazines, regardless of capacity

    • Receivers, including parts, upper or lower, cut, or 80 per cent receivers

    • Slides

    • Trigger assemblies

  • Firearm kits that are used to create a firearm

  • Flash suppressors

  • Reloading presses and equipment

  • Sears

  • Silencers

  • Zip guns

Hand weapons

Some hand-to-hand combat weapons and martial arts weapons can’t be listed. See the list below, as well as the Knives section, for more details.

Allowed

  • Instruction or training manual on how to use hand weapons

  • Wii Nunchuk controllers for the Nintendo Wii

Restricted

  • Training or practice batons, night sticks, nunchakus, or tonfas that are made of rubber foam, dense foam, or foam with plastic interior tubes – you have to specify this detail in your listing. However, weapons that are foam padded with a metal interior aren’t allowed.

Not allowed

Items that are not allowed included, but are not limited to:

  • Any offensive weapon as defined by Section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (UK) or the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990 (Ireland) as these statutes may be amended from time to time.

  • Handclaws, footclaws, throwing stars, shurikens, sandclubs, sandbags, slungshots, saps and blackjacks

  • “Kusari gama”, “kyoketsu shoge”, “manrikigusari” or “kusari” (lengths of rope, cord, wire or chain fastened at one end to either a sickle, hooked knife, hard weight or hand grip)

  • Leaded canes, staffs, crutches or sticks

  • Nightsticks, billy clubs, truncheons, tonfas, batons, police riot batons and similar items, regardless of age

  • Nunchaku (also called nunchucks or numchuks), coshes, shurikens, naruto and hollow kubutans

  • Plastic, brass or other metal knuckledusters

Knives
Knives are not permitted for sale on Buy N Sell LOCAL with limited exceptions outlined below.
When listing knives on Buy N Sell LOCAL, members should be aware that it is an offence to market a knife in a way which indicates or suggests that it is suitable for combat, or is likely to encourage violent behaviour involving the use of the knife as a weapon. It is also an offence to sell knives to a person who is under the age of 18.

Allowed

  • Dining cutlery sets that include knives used for eating

  • Letter openers

  • Razor blades and surgical blades

  • Tools such as chisels, axes, saws and hoof trimming tools

Not allowed

Items that are not allowed included, but are not limited to:

  • Disguised knives such as belt buckle knives, lipstick case knives, air gauge knives and writing pen knives

  • Swords

  • Martial arts blunt training knives

  • Multi-tool knives and craft knives

  • Pocket knives, folding knives and clasp knives

  • Push daggers

  • Sharp kitchen knives (as in pair blocks), cake knives, carving knives, pairing knives, oyster knives and electric knives.

  • Stealth, throwing, ballistic, grivory and rubber knives, Swiss Army knives, Stanley knives and Leathermans

  • Switchblade, spring-blade knives, snap-blade knives, gravity knives, stiletto knives and butterfly knives

Other weapons

Allowed

  • Bows and arrows

  • Non-pneumatic spear guns

Not allowed

  • Blow guns and blowpipes

  • Crossbows

  • Dart guns

  • Disguised stun guns

  • Flares, flare guns, flare launchers or receivers for flare guns

  • High voltage electric stunning devices

  • Paintball guns

  • Potato guns such as bazookas, cannons, or launchers

  • Pneumatic spear guns

  • Replica Tasers

  • Shockers and shock guns

  • Stun guns

  • Weapons which discharge noxious liquids or gases such as tear gas or pepper spray dispenser

Replica or other imitation firearms

Replica firearms look very similar to real guns. Replica or imitation firearms cannot be listed.

Allowed

  • Miniature firearms for action figures

  • Toy guns that clearly look like a toy

Restricted

  • Miniature Gun lighters, unless they appear to be full size

Not allowed

  • Any listing for a firearm accessory which contains a picture of the firearm itself

  • Realistic cap guns

  • Replica firearms

  • Replica Blaster Kits

Why does Buy N Sell LOCAL have this policy?

For safety concerns and in order to follow laws and regulations, we restrict the kinds of weapons and accessories that can be sold on Buy N Sell LOCAL. Be sure to follow all laws and regulations – as well as Buy N Sell LOCAL policies – before buying or selling these items.