Brice McCunn of McCunn Specialty Firearms wants to remind us that there are Internet portals that continue to restrict our right to commerce in legal products. He writes:
Hi Guys,
Just wanted to send you this to reconfirm and show Facebook is obviously still antigun. We are opening a new gun shop and indoor shooting range next month in southwest Iowa. I wanted to pay to run a targeted ad for a few days on Facebook to let people know about our opening. This is what I got right away from Facebook.
that’s just why I have never and will never use any of these social media sites, Facebook is bullshit! These guys get off on censoring the First Amendment be damned to him let him rot! I can’t stand these social media sites they’re absolutely ridiculous with what they’re able to get away with supposedly under the Constitution! They should be beat with a broom handle! Lol
The first amendment applies to the United States government, not private enterprise. Facebook owns their site they are not required by law nor the Constitution to host any advertisements which they might find objectionable. While it is a dick move on the part of Facebook it is not in anyway shape or form illegal.
If the first and second amendments don’t apply to private businesses and only the government, try refusing to sell something to gays or minorities and see where that gets you.
The distinction is you’re discriminating against them as a person. You can throw them out of your store if they do something which you dislike, but being gay is not enough. Selling of ammunition is not person; it’s like saying we won’t take advertisements on knives or toy guns. Objects not people. As an importer of ammunition, what really gets me more is FAET tax.
As an aside, you could sue, citing a monopoly and how since they (or google) have the market, they should allow all legal activity. Might win.
To add to what K-Bizz said:
It’s also not a restrict[ion of] our right to commerce in legal products. Facebook is exercising its right to choose what sorts of businesses it interacts with. Using government to force them to interact with his business would be a violation of the First Amendment guaranteed right of free association.
Agreed. Free association also means the freedom to not associate with anyone. That means no assholes who call themselves government or cops can interfere with anyone who decides not to let any particular race or sexual orientation into their private place of business. But try and tell the assholes that.
Unfortunately as I see it, the second amendment is what protects the fools who use the first to attack and abuse the second and all others.
I’m not sure what Facebook you are using but on mine I read articles by Glock, Ruger, and Beretta all the time. Yours must be defective. (Sarcasm)
Really, this is pretty naive. I belong to a couple of groups that sell and trade all the time. I don’t really understand what they are calling “standards”.
Hmmm,
Hasn’t affected any of the private sites I belong to.
Yet
If facebook gets away with that, probably most people there are not going to be your customers anyway. If your ad was there for years, I still would never see it.
I’m Brice’s Dad and business partner so I get your comment about not seeing any ads. I personally don’t do Facebook but the majority of our customers do. So it used to be a great place to be seen, now, not so much.
Might want to crop the headline photo so it doesn’t show the guys’ Paypal account number even if it only appears to have $20 in it.
That’s not a PayPal account number. PayPal account numbers much more complex and are only used internally. External transactions only involve the payer’s (or payee’s) email address.
That email address is probably much more valuable to an identity thief, since he could probably use google to link it to an address and phone number, and possibly use that to social engineer his way to a password reset.
I got no idea what you’re talking about. I can click on MANY gunshop sites with no problems. and a great many have posted prices and firearms sales running, With prices. I don’t know what you are doing that po’s them off…
Yes, Facebook made a decision to not allow firearm and other weapon type advertisements to be purchased for random display.
I guess they are providing a virtually free service to host a site that promotes your business and as such they get to make the rules. I suspect a “Like Us” or “Share Us” campaign for those who visit the store or website would give you much better local coverage. For sales originating over the internet I would say google search and not facebook advertisements are going to be the win in your case.
I think it is fine to complain, I’m not sure that Facebook is clearly anti-gun in that there are MANY groups and pages that are gun related. I would guess this policy is more of a CYA suggested by the lawyers to prevent our litigious society from going after the most deep pockets hoping for a quick settlement. Or perhaps they were already the target of such a suit and this is what the result was.
Speculation? Yes. Probability of being the truth?
I think Mr. McCunn should ask Facebook for his money back.
They’re actually more “anti-lawsuit” than they are “anti-gun”. Ask the guys at Armslist how fun it is to be a defendant in such litigation, while keeping in mind that Facebook has VERY deep pockets for attorneys to pick.
And yet I belong to several Facebook groups that list said weapons for buy/sale/trade.
Yes, Facebook does not allow gun speak, but they have no problem when their hoard sets up a page proclaiming they want to “Kill” someone or that someone should be “Killed” for their views — that — is okay.
Situational ethics for the win!
Starve the beast.
Why in the holy hell would you pay Facebook for anything? Besides, Facebook is on the downward slide. Many, if not most of the younger generation aren’t on FB anymore.
John
He got a mention on TTAG. Is there any better advertising?
Brice, they’re onto us!!!
Once again TTAG complaining about Facebook and yet the keep promoting it with there own Facebook page.
Remove your page and stop using Facebook or STFU about Facebook.
At least there are alternative ways to comment here than loging into Facebook ( for now ) unlike other sites that b#%ch about Facebook and don’t let you comment unless you have a Facebook page.
Easy, just re-list the ad with the words “LGBT gun enthusiasts WELCOME” (if it’s true, of course) and FB would not dare take it down.
Facebook was started by a dweeb at an Ivy League school and is run out of Commiefornia and we’re surprised they would be anti-gun? I practice a form of Karmic revenge by getting most of my gun media coverage on their site, thereby rendering their pseudo anti-gun behavior void, all while only purchasing things advertised on Facebook that are firearm related. For everything else, I only link through direct websites. Facebook likely doesn’t care but it’s my form of not giving them business while still using their free site.
I don’t get it – there are all kinds of firearms businesses that use FB where the primary business is…..guns, and they don’t have any issues. Like any system, there are rules; seems perhaps this vendor didn’t follow all of them. Same thing for Amazon; they are not anti-gun either, or PayPal, etc. etc.
I refuse to comment or interact with sites that use Fakebook for commenting. I would never provide financial or personal identifying data there.
I only go to websites like TTAG on the web side- dont interact on the FB side.
Not for me to tell anyone what else to do, but your data and location are collected by FB, Google and others and resold, to data brokers, that violate your privacy, in legal and illegal ways.
I’ve got nothing to hide, just object on principle.
I really hate facebook for this, and would totally stop using it if I didn’t have to for work.
I was part of a local gun trading group and it just disappeared a few weeks ago. At least I got a sweet SKS before they pulled the plug!