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May 28, 2023

Oopsie! Advertisement posted to an online marketplace reeks of a government blunder

By Olivia Murray

Within the online community of “meme-ing” gun aficionados, there’s a well-known term used for someone who just doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of us: “glowie”.

“Glowies” might hypothetically “ram” moving trucks into White House barriers at low speeds while toting newly unfurled Nazi Germany flags, or they might be new friends that text things like “Mission is to kill the governor [Whitmer] specifically.”

A “glowie” is somebody who is too much like a caricature or negative stereotype of a “patriot” — he/she stands out like those military grade “ChemLight” glow sticks — that they’re suspected of being a federal agent or informant whose role is to infiltrate and entrap, or discredit a pro-Constitution movement or group of people. Another more familiar term might be that he/she “sticks out like a sore thumb.”

Shortly after January 6th, far-left editorial The Atlantic published an article titled, “The Far Right’s Fear of ‘Glowies’” with this teaser:

In the aftermath of the January 6 riot, extremists have become obsessed with federal agents who might lurk among them.

On that note, I would definitely be wary of a “Quandale Dingle” advertising certain wares from a Washington D.C. federal military installation — he’s selling criminalized gun components. See the Twitter thread below:

Now, most people probably don’t understand the layers of “glowie” in this advertisement, because most people probably don’t know what they’re even looking at; those three metal pieces can be assembled and installed on a Glock handgun to convert it from semi-automatic to automatic. (Semi-automatic means you have to release your trigger squeeze to fire another shot; automatic means you can just keep the trigger engaged and the firearm will dispense rounds until empty.)

So first off, owning an automatic firearm is highly regulated with harsh penalties for any violations — and the seller’s location within the Washington D.C. metro area just happens to be on top of a compound that’s housing countless conspicuous federal agencies?

Second of all, and I think I notice this because I’m an editor, but the description looks like an English major wrote it: everything is spelled correctly; the first letter of each word (except the preposition!) is capitalized, which is rather striking consistency; and it is oddly and exceptionally detailed. A 99-character title? Normal people simply call this component a “switch” or “glock switch” or “auto sear”. Also, CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control, so the seller is informing a potential buyer that these pieces were manufactured using a certain type of machine, but any knowledgeable gun person could look at the parts and know that; it’s completely unnecessary information, because how else would metal guns parts be crafted? Hammer and chisel?

Thirdly, the seller’s name is “Quandale Dingle” which is a relatively obscure meme reference, likely not known by the gun community. (Who knew that my meme proficiency would have real world applicability?)

Fourthly, I located the original advertisement through my personal Facebook account, and scanned through Mr. Dingle’s other “listings” which amount to just two other items: AirPods Pro, and a pile of techy chip readers and accessories that can be plugged right into your personal computer! See below:

Seems trustworthy.

And last but not least an anecdotal note. I’m involved in a number of Facebook groups that deal with archery hunting (which I love), and many of the groups (if not all?) prohibit advertising archery equipment, because it’s a surefire way to attract the attention of the Meta overlords who are swift to throw the group into Facebook Jail; how in the world is this “switch” still up?

A candid photo of “Quandale Dingle” can be seen below:

Hat tip: Rusty Shackleford.

Image: Flyingbird at Dutch Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.

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