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I've come across lots of folks on forums, especially those who live in anti-gun states like MA, IL, NJ, NY, etc who ask questions that usually start with "can I own a... " or "is my gun legal in". When I researched these kinds of things on the web, information was scant, disorganized, confusing or non-existent.

So, as an avid gun owner and pro-liberty dude, I thought I'd create a site that covers these kinds of questions. Created a site called www.ismygunlegal.com. Has thousands of guns which you can peruse through and edit yourself. Cool thing is you can add guns of your own, edit the ones that are there, and change legalities of firearms in the various states (like a wiki).

The site is new and is constantly being updated with new and current information, so not all of the firearms are up to date. There are well over 4,000 firearms to look at and add to. It's a non-commercial site, 100% free and always will be.

My question for y'all is - how do you like the site? What would you change about it? What needs improvement? I've purposely made it very spartan - clean, with little or not clutter. Just information on guns. How it should be, IMO.

Lemme know what you think. Hope this doesn't count as spam for my first post - thought it would be a helpful link to everybody here, 'specially folks who are unfortunate enough to live in anti-gun states (like myself).

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All information I found on 5 searches show as "unclear". Firearms may be listed as not legal because of the manufactured configuration, or because the capacity of the magazines included. The firearm can be made legal in those states with a simple dremel or rivet. Good luck keeping it up to date.

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Same as above. The site itself looks nice, but it needs reliable, accurate content. Also, be very careful with your "Search terms" on the front page. Some people know these weapons by certain familiar names/terms. If your search engine can't handle those terms, the results will, more than likely come up "empty" than not.

 

For Example, if I search on one my inventory items, the "Sig Sauer P226,"  I get very decent hits immediately.  But, if I search on "Para Expert" (i.e. their .45acp full size 1911), It comes up "no results." I had to shorten it to "Para" and then I got a ton of results I had to wade through, not ever finding my own item. I re-tried "Para USA (Para Ordinance)" but, still, never found the "Expert" just a bunch of SKUs.  I'd suggest you program some familiar search "key words" into each item entry, as it will enhance the value of the tool. Making the user "guess" and "refine" the terms to get the right answers takes more time and effort and, therefore, lessens the value of the site.

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I'm a bit confused by the selection of firearms. I searched for two items.

 

I searched "PPK" in NJ and got 11 results, differentiating between a stainless finish and blued finish, 75th anniversary edition, and showing both the PPKS and the PPK/S, which are the same.

 

Then I searched "PPQ" in NJ and got one result. Regardless of variant, because there's several models, one that is legal in NJ and one that is not because of the 17 round magazine. 

 

Whereas you lump all PPQ's in together, you break out almost a dozen varieties of PPK's. And none of which have any data on them.

 

I like the idea, but I'd be wary of user submitted "is this legal?" questions.

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All information I found on 5 searches show as "unclear". Firearms may be listed as not legal because of the manufactured configuration, or because the capacity of the magazines included. The firearm can be made legal in those states with a simple dremel or rivet. Good luck keeping it up to date.

 

Thanks that's helpful, and a good point. I made it so that you can choose "yes", "no", "yes, with stipulations" or "unclear" for a firearm's legality. This way, if a firearm is legal with certain manufactured configurations as you say, you can choose "yes, with stipulations" under the legality column when editing the firearm in question.

 

Example: "Yes, with stipulations: XYZ Gun is legal in Massachusetts if a simple dremel or rivet is used." <== You can include that in the gun profile so it's clear that this gun in this configuration is legal in whatever state it is.

 

I think it looks good. Although I agree with PK90. How do you handle the different gun configurations?

Thanks - described a bit above. The site is highly flexible and enables you to enter or change pretty much anything about the firearm. There are more than likely things I've missed in setting it up, but it's pretty comprehensive once you log in and check out what you can do.

 

Same as above. The site itself looks nice, but it needs reliable, accurate content. Also, be very careful with your "Search terms" on the front page. Some people know these weapons by certain familiar names/terms. If your search engine can't handle those terms, the results will, more than likely come up "empty" than not.

 

For Example, if I search on one my inventory items, the "Sig Sauer P226,"  I get very decent hits immediately.  But, if I search on "Para Expert" (i.e. their .45acp full size 1911), It comes up "no results." I had to shorten it to "Para" and then I got a ton of results I had to wade through, not ever finding my own item. I re-tried "Para USA (Para Ordinance)" but, still, never found the "Expert" just a bunch of SKUs.  I'd suggest you program some familiar search "key words" into each item entry, as it will enhance the value of the tool. Making the user "guess" and "refine" the terms to get the right answers takes more time and effort and, therefore, lessens the value of the site.

 

Thanks. The goal is to get gun-friendly folks like you and I to contribute the reliable, accurate content to the site. The site is like a wiki - can be edited by anyone. As a safeguard, the edits are moderated and users must supply a source that backs up the information they enter.

 

The search behavior - yeah, this is something that has been itching at me to get done. It's really inflexible right now. Programmers are working on getting the search function to have more flexibility and intuition.

 

Thanks for the feedback - all really great points.

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I'm a bit confused by the selection of firearms. I searched for two items.

 

I searched "PPK" in NJ and got 11 results, differentiating between a stainless finish and blued finish, 75th anniversary edition, and showing both the PPKS and the PPK/S, which are the same.

 

Then I searched "PPQ" in NJ and got one result. Regardless of variant, because there's several models, one that is legal in NJ and one that is not because of the 17 round magazine. 

 

Whereas you lump all PPQ's in together, you break out almost a dozen varieties of PPK's. And none of which have any data on them.

 

I like the idea, but I'd be wary of user submitted "is this legal?" questions.

 

Thanks for the details. Looks like we have some duplicates based on your research, and those profiles haven't had information entered yet. Have a team working on it. Also working on getting the search function more intuitive and friendly.

 

In the meantime, if you feel up to it, you can change the information yourself. You sound like you know what you are talking about with PPKs and PPQs (I don't know the difference right now, other than Bond used a PPK, I think, haha).

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The search behavior - yeah, this is something that has been itching at me to get done. It's really inflexible right now. Programmers are working on getting the search function to have more flexibility and intuition.
 
Thanks for the feedback - all really great points.

 

Even a simple "keyword" search on "any/all words entered" would be great.  So, if I enter "Para Expert" it would search for items containing either "Para" or "Expert." Or, if I said "Para+Expert,"  It would search for "Para Expert" as a whole, anywhere in the description.  But the problem being, your descriptions also have to have those terms within themselves.

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Even a simple "keyword" search on "any/all words entered" would be great.  So, if I enter "Para Expert" it would search for items containing either "Para" or "Expert." Or, if I said "Para+Expert,"  It would search for "Para Expert" as a whole, anywhere in the description.  But the problem being, your descriptions also have to have those terms within themselves.

 

Do you mean a search on anything found within the firearm description and it's profile fields? That's a good point, and I think it should be implemented. I'll forward your suggestions to the programming team.

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Do you mean a search on anything found within the firearm description and it's profile fields? That's a good point, and I think it should be implemented. I'll forward your suggestions to the programming team.

 

Either there, of it the record has specific "keyword" fields on which to search.

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You say it can be edited by users. I cannot see how. Can you post some instructions, please?

 

I believe it's a Wikipedia type, where you have to register.

 

I'll be honest and say I tried, but I never got the email to activate my account. 

 

So far there's a lot of missing info, which I have, but I have no way of inputting it into your system.

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Every gun I just looked at says "Unclear", even though I know they are legal in most states, NJ included. 

 

Hey Plode - you can edit them when you login. I'll explain below.

 

 

You say it can be edited by users. I cannot see how. Can you post some instructions, please?

 

Sure, just tell me in a private message here what your email address is so I can give you permissions to update what you see fit. Once you have permissions, you see new buttons and links next to firearms search results.

 

 

I believe it's a Wikipedia type, where you have to register.

 

I'll be honest and say I tried, but I never got the email to activate my account. 

 

So far there's a lot of missing info, which I have, but I have no way of inputting it into your system.

 

Sorry about the confusion. Sometimes the activation email goes to spam folders. I know it did in my gmail when I tested things out. Can you check in your spam folder?

 

Also, if you want to edit things, let me know your email in a private message so I can give you permissions to edit, add, etc.

 

I very much appreciate the pro-activity and interest.

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Sorry about the confusion. Sometimes the activation email goes to spam folders. I know it did in my gmail when I tested things out. Can you check in your spam folder?

 

Also, if you want to edit things, let me know your email in a private message so I can give you permissions to edit, add, etc.

 

I very much appreciate the pro-activity and interest.

 

Hi there... I don't use a spam filter since it's my own .com and hard to accidentally guess my email.

 

Anyway, PM your way.

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