Rob,
I think the difference is the contact was not made via auction. Tom and I have emailed each other many times and he knew exactly who I was and contacted me via an established history of communication. He has helped me many times in the past in the pursuit of information that he worked hard to obtain.
In contrast if I was to contact a bidder who I had never communicated with before with the intent to let the person with the highest intention buy the gun without any competition I think that would be a violation. That scenerio would have the bidder who was willing to bid the highest be allowed to buy the gun at a lower rate with no competition with a desire to defraud the seller. That is not what happened here. I simply decided I would not bid unless Tom was outbid, nobody suggested that I not bid, I just find it improper to bid on something a friend is bidding on.
I do not take your response to be an attack and feel that you are presenting a reasoned intellectual discussion.
Respectfully,
Ross
