Massivedesign wrote:The thing we have to remember is that we can be as organized as we want. Until we get there we are not sure how its going to play out. Also we have to recognize the fact that we are probably not the only people who read the article and there WILL be other people there who are looking to "save the iron" from the deadly fire as well.
The best bet for this to work would be a table and a sign saying "$20 or MORE for any firearm" and whomever is in our "group" is in a line. Lady comes up with a revolver and Toys is at the table with Zwitter behind and AndreS behind him etc etc. This is Toys gig to look at the firearm and decide to purchase or not. He can pass and call up Zwitter (Toys would then go to the end of the line), and Zwitter would then have a shot. If Zwitter purchases the firearm, then it's AndreS at the table and the person behind him on deck....
The reality of the situation is that there is going to 40+ people there looking to buy firearms and 3 people that show up....
Here are my thoughts:
We don't want a mob behind the table(s), we need an organized approach. I'd suggest a line of folks that each have a different job:
Safety: First person the potential seller sees. They check that the firearm is clear and safe before handing it off to the:
Evaluator: Second in line, someone with a lot of experience buying and selling various types of firearms. This person's job is to determine whether what they have is a functional firearm that would go into the "good" gun queue, or whether it's a parts gun & if it should go into the "parts" gun queue. This person would also be responsible for determining if what the little old lady is turning in is another Sturm Gewehr or other rare and desirable firearm. If so, she would be handed off to an advisor who would present options for her including us helping her sell it on the forum for FMV instead of ripping her off for $50. This may require more than one person, because this is where the questions are going to be. We would need at a minimum a copy of the pertinent RCWs regarding private sales to reassure folks who aren't positive what we're doing is legal.
Purchasing agent: This person would go through the paperwork for transferring (maybe not the right word since these should all be private sales). This person would have access to the purchasing fund (see below) and would actually pay the seller. Since this person would be a proxy buyer for everyone, we need to think if we want an FFL involved with this part of it. Ideally we'd have a trust or something we could purchase through, but probably not enough time to set that up (I have no idea what it takes, but maybe someone else does). This is the one part of my purchasing queue & randomly fair queue that could be problematic (see below for both). Sellers are going to want a receipt with another person's name on it, even if we all know it's not necessary. This part may need some thinking, and it's the only place where I like the idea of having a line of folks doing the purchasing instead of a random list of folks buying. However, maybe one of the FFL's can be the purchasing agent for all of the firearms, but since they're FFL's they all have to go into their log books I think? I'm OK with that, but I'm sure Don or Brad or whoever doesn't want all the extra paperwork.
Purchasing fund:
This is determined by how many people are interested. Minimum buy in would be our set price (let's call it $50/firearm). Fund would be collected by a representative of WaGuns, or if WaGuns isn't interested in being the holder, someone we trust to manage the cash.
Purchasing queue:
This is determined by time stamp provided by the fund manager(s). The queue will be determined by first to deposit in the fund for the first go around (see randomly fair queue below). Each unique purchaser would automatically get put in the top of the purchasing queue for the first round. In other words, if 10 people deposit into the purchasing fund, they are guaranteed to be in deposit order for their first purchase only. Subsequent purchases would go through the randomly fair queue.
Randomly fair queue:
The top of the queue is determined by deposit order into the purchasing fund. Every unique purchaser is guaranteed to be in the first round of purchases. If ten people deposit to the fund, then the top of the queue would be those ten people. If a few of those ten only deposited $50 (a single purchase), they'd drop off of the subsequent randomly fair queue after the first ten purchases had been made, and those who made more than one purchase deposit would then be randomly chosen from the folks who are left for the next round. This would continue until there were either no more funds, or there is a single large depositor left who fills the entire queue. The randomly fair queue would be applied after the fact, so no one would know which firearm "belonged" to whom. That means that the guy who only bought one gun gets as fair a chance at getting a "good" one as the guy who bought twenty. We would randomize the list of purchased guns (so it doesn't matter if the "good" guns showed up later or earlier in the day), and apply the randomly fair queue to the randomized list after the buy back was done.
I can write the randomly fair queue (figured out how to do it around 2am this morning) and we can keep track of everything using a Google Docs form (which I can also write).
We would need a couple of laptops, a printer (for receipts) and a WifI hotspot (good thing we know a wireless reseller), so the Google Docs page(s) would be live and a generator to run everything. I can provide laptops / tablets, a good folding table, and a quiet generator. We'd also need at least one easy-up, nobody is going to want to stand in the rain or snow, a couple of tables, and chairs for the folks working the booth.