The Seattle P-I reports:

A convicted felon in real life, Olympia resident Michael Joanen was buying and selling guns on Facebook with little trouble, federal prosecutors contend.

. . .

Had Joanen tried to buy a gun through a licensed dealer, he would have been turned away if his criminal history had been discovered during a background check. Likewise, he, as a convicted felon, couldn’t have secured a federal firearms dealer’s license.

Online, though, Joanen was able to deal in guns for months before federal investigators caught wind, prosecutors now claim.

Read the whole article here.