Facebook has just stepped into the debate over guns in America in a major way. It has announced that it will ban users from coordinating private gun sales on its site and also on Instagram, which it owns. The new rules by the social media giant would not be applicable to licensed gun dealers who will still be allowed Facebook postings as long as they do not complete any sales transactions on the site.
This is the second time in less than a year that Facebook has cracked down on gun transactions via its services. In March 2014, Facebook warned users who were promoting private sales to comply with all state and federal gun laws. Also, any posts which mentioned firearms sales were restricted to users 18 or older.
The ban also extends to gun parts and ammunition, which are often sold and traded over the Internet.
Facebook’s head of product policy, Monika Bickert, commented on the new rules:
“Over the last two years, more and more people have been using Facebook to discover products and to buy and sell things to one another. We are continuing to develop, test and launch new products to make this experience even better for people and are updating our regulated goods policies to reflect this evolution.”
One wonders, however, if the GOP candidates for President and their radical ammosexual buddies in the Congress will now declare Facebook evil and seek to pass legislation that will please the National Rifle Association (NRA), which contributes millions to their campaign war chests each and every election cycle. Maybe the NRA could start its own social media site and call it “Gunbook” or “Deathgram.” No doubt that would be a huge hit with the asshats in this country who feel they need to open carry a weapon of mass murder in every store they enter.
And there is also little doubt the NRA will use this Facebook restriction for one thing: Fundraising.
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