Man Buys TV From Amazon, Receives Assault Weapon In Its Place
Washington, D.C. – Seth Horvitz was in the market for a new flat-screen television, so he ventured into the Amazon Z-shops to find the best deal. After selecting the item that best suited his budget, Horvitz purchase the TV and waited patiently for his box to arrive. When his snazzy new slice of technology finally shipped, he was shocked to discover he’d received something else in its place.
According to My Fox DC, Horvitz was shipped an Army-style semi-automatic assault rifle, much to his complete and utter surprise. Confused as to what to do next with this unwanted weaponry, Seth decided to phone the local police.
“[Police] were a little confused at first, they’ve never seen anything quite like it,” Horvitz explained. “They just took my information and then said we’ll handle this weapon because it’s illegal to keep here. It’s illegal to transport in a car, so it can’t be returned.”
In order to figure out what happened between the ordering of the television and its scheduled delivery, Horvitz contacted the seller, who seemed a little surprised by the mistake. “When I contacted the seller about it, they denied knowing anything about it,” Horvitz told Wired. “They acted surprised — ‘I’d never owned a gun in my life.’ Amazon shut down their account.”
After doing a little detective work of his own, Horvitz discovered that additional shipping information was located beneath the label containing his home address. UPS, the company that shipped the rifle, had also covered the package with a number of different tracking stickers.
Although the invoice inside the box was addressed to Independence Gun Shop in Duncansville, Pennsylvania, the shop owner is a little perplexed about the situation as well.
“I’m not sure how it happened. We order a lot from the internet, but this is the first time this has ever happened,” the owner explained. “I was more or less the middleman. The guy ordered stuff from the internet, it has to go through an approved federal firearms licensed shop. You verify licenses on both ends, the shipper and the receiver, and you ship the gun to the approved ATF FFL holder.”
Horvitz, meanwhile, just wants his new television.
