eBay loser goes literally ballistic

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (Court TV) — Gerald Newburger really doesn't like losing.

A year after getting outbid at an online auction for a collection of used band uniforms, the New Orleans native traveled to New York to confront his rival bidder with a gun.

Newburger, 44, was pretty sore over losing a 480-piece collection of second-hand matching band and dance uniforms, which he had hoped to resell for a profit. Despite his loss to Robert Malinovsky of New York, who placed the winning bid of $360, Newburger resumed bidding offline.

According to Poughkeepsie prosecutor Richard Fiorile, Newburger exchanged e-mails and phone calls with Malinovsky for several months trying to convince him to sell.

After long-distance negotiating proved unsuccessful Newburger decided to try a face-to-gun approach.

more...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=99&e=3&u=/ct/ebaylosergoesliterallyballistic

Wait until the final seconds of the auction and enter the highest bid you're willing to pay for the items. If you lose, no big deal, it went for more than it was worth to you.

The way not to win: Hope that no one else bids.

....put my bid in during the last seconds.....it has worked for me EVERY TIME....and I'm a big ebayer!

I like free ones like this one http://www.vrane.com/snp.html

That way you never have to stick around to watch the auction. It puts the bid in for you at the last second.

"pre-band" or "post-band" uniforms?

<cymbal crash>

...yet another one of those "law-abiding" gun owners that none of us ever have to worry about.

:shrug:

Um... One of the things he's in trouble for is criminal possession of a weapon. Oh, right. You're being sarcastic. In that case, what is your point? We all worry about non-law-abiding gun owners.

Seriously, this guy tracked him down a thousand miles away and year later to menace him? What kind of reasonable gun control law could keep someone with that pathological degree of determination from getting a weapon? It comes down to the basic problem that criminals don't care enough about laws. Meanwhile, gun control laws inconvenience and endanger the people who actually abide by them.

Here's a wacky idea:
Decriminalize all gun possession and concealed carry. Then, for any violent offense, make gun possession a sentence multiplier of 1.5. Instead of getting 2-4 for assault, you get 3-6 for assault and possession. 20 years for attempted murder vs. 30 for attempted murder and possession. This provides a deterrent for those who would use a weapon when committing their special crime, without abridging the freedom of the rest of us.