International weapons trading turns to craigslist

You'd think the Best of Craigslist would be funny stuff, like the letter "to the guy doing my wife". Perhaps the weird and slightly disturbing "personal ads". Maybe other people's weird junk you definitely don't want chilling in your living room.

Personally, I think this one murders all of them: recently, undercover government officials decided to take a little cruise around Craigslist and eBay and discovered dozens of "sensitive military items" for sale.

* Night vision goggles? check
* Body armor? check
* U.S. military-issued Army combat uniform? check
* Authentic military MREs (Meals Ready To Eat)? check
* F-14 jet antennas? check
* F-14 Converter/Receiver Control? check

Oh and by the way, Iran is the only country that uses F-14s anymore. Comforting.

These items were sold to the highest bidder. Naturally, our government decided the best allocation of its citizens tax dollars would go towards buying back its own shit.

I wonder how much the F-14 parts went for...

Funnily enough, there are no laws against selling sensitive military equipment in such an anonymous online exchange. BUT, eBay DOES prevent the resale of previously used cosmetics. I'm glad we have our priorities straight here, people.

Of course, government officials are all in a tiff about the idea of former soldiers, forced to buy their uniforms with their own money (making them their property), reselling them indiscriminately to strangers. Really...what are they supposed to do with them? Have them hanging in your closet for a constant chilling reminder of your last tour in Iraq? Hey, if you can make a couple hundred bucks so some nobody can have a cool Halloween costume, I say go for it.

So now, the government's working on a law against selling any authentic military items less than 50 years old. Way to go, Congress.