New 'Canadian Firearms Exchange' launches, promises to be marketplace for 'law-abiding' gun owners

[u/Mysterious_Sleep7443]

https://www.westernstandard.news/canadian/new-canadian-firearms-exchange-launches-promises-to-be-marketplace-for-law-abiding-gun-owners/75538

CFE founder Jacob van der Merwe says the sites dedication to security and identity verification will provide a one-of-a-kind marketplace for Canadian firearm enthusiasts

A new marketplace purporting to be a haven for Canadian "law-abiding firearm owners" has launched and promises to be a market that will allow firearms enthusiasts to buy, sell, and trade firearms and firearm-related equipment.

In a statement provided to the Western Standard, Jacob van der Merwe, the founder of the Canadian Firearms Exchange (CFE), touted that the marketplace was "created for law-abiding firearm owners who are tired of being treated like the problem."

The statement continues, saying that the Exchange "gives responsible hunters, sport shooters, ranchers, collectors, and licensed owners a secure place to buy, sell, and trade firearms-related gear while reinforcing the rules lawful Canadians already follow every day."

On their website it explains that the CFE is not a retailer but a "private community of Canadians buying, selling, and trading the firearms, optics, ammunition, and hunting gear they actually use."

The website states that every member will be required to have their identity verified and be someone residing in Canada, and the site will be geolocked to only allow Canadian traffic.

"The platform includes identity verification, PAL/RPAL compliance reminders, listing review, secure account protections, and in-platform messaging — not because licensed owners are the problem, but because responsible Canadians continue to prove they hold themselves to a higher standard," the statement from CFE reads.

The launch comes as Canadians are finding it more and more difficult to find ways to buy, sell, and trade firearms while obeying the ever-changing laws.

In an interview with WS, van der Merwe stressed the importance that the CFE could have in the Canadian firearms community and noted the importance that the geo-block feature on the website will have to prevent scams and foreign actors.

"To ensure that everyone (buying and selling on the exchange) is Canadian, we use technology to geo-block the site, so if you're outside of Canada, you'll be able to see the page, but you won't be able to open an account."

Van der Merwe noted that the exchange also makes new members send an e-transfer of $0.01 to the CFE to verify that they have a Canadian bank account, and the bank account name matches the name provided on the account.

'We use the Interac e-transfer platform to verify that people have given us their actual name and that they have an active Canadian bank account. The Interac system only exists for Canadians who bank in Canada."

"So even if you've used a VPN and spoofed your way into the site, you won't get past the verification layer." van der Merwe said when asked about the security of the site.

He also added that the CFE does not take any commission or make any profit on transactions between members, van der Merwe added that if the site gets big enough, he may sell ad space on the site but said he won't "nickel and dime" members.

Van der Merwe stated that while he is aware that his site is not the first of its kind in Canada, he stresses his 30 years of experience in IT have allowed him to build a far more user-friendly interface as well as a far more secure site in terms of user safety when buying and selling.

When asked if he could sum up what the CFE will bring to Canadian firearms enthusiasts, van der Merwe said, "trust, compliance, security, and ease of use."

"I want to make it possible so when you join the site you are confident that you are dealing with verified people on the other side."

It is estimated that there are currently over 12.7 million civilian firearms in Canada, two million of which are registered and over 10 million that aren't.

Canada has a long and storied firearm history and culture, with Canada ranking as the country with the seventh highest firearm-per-capita rate in the world.

[u/aero_universe]

tldr a bit confused. How is this diff than the gunpost?

[u/16gaugeguy16 → u/aero_universe]

Seems to have more scam protection and caters less to scalpers.

There is really no verification process on gun post other than what individual users do and trusting someone based on reviews.

[u/mwmwmwmwmmdw → u/16gaugeguy16]

There is really no verification process

its a balancing act. CGN's EE basically became a ghost town because their ability to be able to post there was a whole long winded process and required a cantankerous fudd boomer to be in a good mood when they saw your application to approve it. but before the early and mid 2010's they where the only game in town.

gunpost in the early days had zero safeguards in place beyond manual reporting of scammers. but it took the scammers awhile to learn how our laws somewhat work to get good enough for their scams to work and start becoming a real problem.

[u/Remarkable_Vanilla34 → u/mwmwmwmwmmdw]

CGN is also just a terribly outdated format,

[u/LeviathanOfLiberty → u/aero_universe]

It’s worse than Gunpost if you’re worried about a gun registry.

[u/TescoValueSoup → u/LeviathanOfLiberty]

Collecting real names and storing purchase and sales history is a huge turnoff.

That and the website being AI slop

[u/LeviathanOfLiberty → u/TescoValueSoup]

I’m not even going to criticize him too much for enlisting Mr. Claude to help (I’ve done it too). But the implementation here is half assed and certainly doesn’t speak to a web developer of “30 years” using AI to help guide his development. Of course he fundamentally misunderstands what the current mood of the firearms community in this country is and our level of mistrust for the government. No, we don’t actually want more surveillance lmao. We’re not all the boomers at the local rod and hunt club talking about “no more than 10 rounds per minute!!!!”

[u/Otherwise_Rub_9515 → u/LeviathanOfLiberty]

Can you elaborate? 

[u/LeviathanOfLiberty → u/Otherwise_Rub_9515]

Private NR firearms sales involve getting a CFP reference number. No gun info or quantity of guns is recorded. So a record of a transaction of some kind is recorded, but the RCMP does not know what was transferred (if at all, as these numbers are frequently generated without any transaction occurring).

This makes both parties verify identities and then keeps all communications between said parties on a platform where you are prompted to get a CFP reference number with a specific firearm attached to the transaction. If the records are not destroyed or if the transaction is not P2P encrypted with the admin unable to decrypt messages without getting keys from one of the two parties, this is a backdoor gun registry.