Hacker News Reader

Comment by frankharv | Hacker News Reader

Here in Virginia Beach the pawn shops have to send a daily report of transactions to the police department.

This also applies to scrap yards. They must submit to authorities a daily report of all scrap received and by who.

I don't know how this has passed legal muster. In the article they state: "Detectives also conducted undercover operations in which they sold new items in their original packaging to the shops, which accepted them no questions asked"

So now Pawn Shops are required to interrogate their customers?

View on HN

Oddly enough, pawn shops are considered “financial institutions” under the Bank Secrecy Act/Patriot Act. They actually might be even more regulated than traditional banks when it comes to KYC. I’ve never done any work for pawnshops but I’m pretty sure they need to get all the usual ID that a bank would _plus_ a physical description of the customer (height, weight, hair color, race, tattoos, etc.).

Also, the Patriot Act is a major invasion of privacy. SCOTUS says it’s Constitutional but I think there would be riots in the streets if people really understood the kind of surveillance the average law-abiding citizen is subject to under the law.

Stolen goods can be confiscated by police without any compensation for the pawn shop. Therefore it is in their interest to know where the customer got the item from, unless the shop is acting as a fence, as in this case.

Woah small world. I live in Virginia Beach too... :)

Sorry for the off topic reply.

Back at ya.

I am a Machinist so most of my waste is worth money. CHIPS! Brass, Copper, and Bronze if kept virgin can command good scrap rates. I can tell you how that has gone at work. Back in the old days, we all contributed and segregated bronze into a 55 gallon drum. When full, company vehicle takes scrap to scrapyard. So 50 percent lost off the top, but the rest was used to buy shop tools. We had nice accessories. Then management got greedy and wanted it all. Now we don't segregate or care about virgin material. Everybody loses. Crappy tools so people get hurt and less money for the scrap sold.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com