amazon 404 page
Courtesy Amazon
Amazon 404 page gun accessories
Courtesy Amazon.com

By Abe Voelker

Starting in early August, Amazon began purging hundreds of listings for firearm accessories from its website that include the terms “AR-15” or “AK-47.” At the moment, many of these products still show up in Google’s search cache, however following the results render Amazon’s 404 page which displays a picture of a random employee’s dog.

I first noticed this last month when some products I was planning to buy disappeared, as well as products that I had already bought from Amazon that were in my order history. When I started noticing a pattern, I wrote a quick crawler to perform some Google queries and walk the results to see what exactly had been recently removed.

I came up with a list of a couple of hundred products, although there could be many more that I’m missing.

Amazon deleted products
Click on image above to see the full spreadsheet. (Courtesy Abe Voelker)

Reviewing the list, casualties of the deleting frenzy include many basic accessories such as slings, bayonets, and rails, as well as items as innocuous as flashlights, front sight adjustment tools, cleaning kits and screw sets.

Some of the more popular products had been listed on Amazon for several years and had hundreds of reviews.

I reached out to several sellers who had their listings removed. Gerd F Bauer II, co-owner of Magnamatic and maker of the popular AKFST AK platform sight adjustment tool which had its Amazon listing removed, responded and confirmed that Amazon is targeting AK-47 and AR-15 tools and accessories in the purge:

Yes Amazon took our listing down they are making new policies about firearms listings that is even applicable to tools for firearms.

I don’t know why other companies like NcSTAR are allowed to still sell AK front sight tools, but I have to see if I can appeal the take-down of my product listing. In their policy they target AK-47 and AR-15 rifles any tools or accessories.

After a little Googling, it seems the wave of enforcement was likely triggered by a Washington Post exposé written on August 6 blasting Google and Amazon for not enforcing bans against firearm accessories (including Butler Creek 25-round magazine “ammunition clips”).

menendez letter to Amazon
Click image above to view the full letter (PDF).

That was followed a few days later by a letter sent by a group of Democrat Senators led by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (who also owns the Washington Post). The group included presidential candidates Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and Amy Klobuchar. The letter noted the discovery of gun accessories like “ammunition clips” for sale on Bezos’s site and urged Amazon to take action and provide an accounting of itself.

I believe Amazon has always had a policy banning the sale of certain weapons and accessories. Reading that policy today, there is a prohibition against the “listing or sale of certain firearm and imitation firearm accessories,” including prohibition of “assault weapon parts or accessories or products marketed as assault weapon parts or accessories, including reference to various assault weapon models.”

It’s unclear if that “assault weapons” bit existed before political pressure was applied or added later, as the policy is marked as being updated on August 23 and there is no ability to view a history of policy changes. But I assume that is the policy now being enforced here, regardless of how ridiculous “assault weapons” bans that target aesthetics are.

While further reviewing my crawler’s output, I realized some products have survived the wave of bans by removing the forbidden words from their titles, for instance replacing “AK-47” with “SKS” or “AR-15” with “rifle.”

Another added the disclaimer “this red dot scope mount cannot be an assault weapon part or accessory” despite being a generic AK side rail mount. It’s unclear if the self-censorship has appeased Amazon or if the sellers are simply evading enforcement, but if Amazon approves of these changes, it perfectly highlights how “assault weapon”-type bans are driven by emotion rather than any kind of logic.

I also realized that many of the removed products are still visible on Amazon’s website by visiting the Amazon Canada URL of the product rather than www.amazon.com. For example, the aforementioned AKFST sight tool is still visible on Amazon Canada.

As Amazon continues its struggle against the scourge of knockoff products and fake reviews that severely undermine trust in its platform, it remains to be seen whether the leviathan retailer’s capitulation to the latest “assault weapon” scare and taking itself out of this segment of the gun accessory market will be harmful in the long-term, or if the absence of the country’s largest glorified Chinese flea market distribution center will enable a healthier market to bloom.

Years ago I used to lament the fact that I couldn’t do more firearm shopping on Amazon or some other centralized retailer, but nowadays I think it has turned out to be a blessing:

For now, some firearm accessories such as scopes remain available on the platform, despite the fact that buyers may choose to attach them to an AR-15 or AK platform rifle. So there is still time for you to play Russian roulette on whether that ACOG you’ve been saving up to buy is legit or a Chinese knockoff.

I emailed Amazon’s PR department for a request for more info/comment on September 4, but they haven’t responded.

 

This post originally appeared at abevoelker.com and is reprinted here with permission. 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

89 COMMENTS

  1. I, too, was perusing a couple of accessories on Amazon this past week, with the intention of buying at least one. If they’re no longer available, so be it. I’m not married to Amazon anyway.

    I suppose I’ll be frequenting Brownell’s, MidwayUSA, and others more now. Not a bad thing.

    • Midway is overpriced for everything I ever shopped them for. They’re also a bunch of d-bags that refuse to sell reloading components to NY.

      • With a d-bag governor, a lawsuit happy d-bag AG, and so on, you really have trouble understanding why companies won’t ship stuff to your d-bag state?

        • Plenty of companies will ship to NY. There is no law against it. Funny how companies like Walmart, Dicks, etc are branded as cowards and surrender-monkeys here for not selling legal things but Midway and others get away with it.

        • Chill out. Most companies double list on Amazon to cover their bases. You might think you are buying on amazon but really its Magpul, or other tactical supplier.

          Companies need customers who need product. Play your pro-gun social justice warrior game, but in the end, if you don’t by, they die. Amazon is just one of many conduits connecting product with buyers. That’s all they are. So if they cut product for some reason, then the financial gains must certainly not outweigh the signaling. Or even release of liability.

          So stop yer whining and buy your crap elsewhere. First amendment, and all that!

        • Hannibal – commie states like NY, MA, NJ, CA, have taxpayer funded unlimited budgets for their AG’s and gov’t to file lawsuits against companies who ship ammo, etc. to their states. Those states will take the companies to court and it will cost them a ton in legal fees, a lot more than the sales to those states. Even if they win in court, the legal fees could bankrupt some companies. They are not chicken or cowards, they just want to stay in business.

          companies like dicks and walmart have no excuse, they have plenty of money to fight states and in their cases, they stopped selling legal products to be woke and impress the media and their liberal friends.

        • DDay that is bullcr@p. Half the states have AGs that can do that. Will these companies stop shipping ammo to Virginia and Texas if they go blue even if it is legal to do so (and it is for example legal to ship ammo to mayland or DC gun owners).

          Why won’t palmetto sell bore cleaner to DC gun owners when it is legal to sell that uncontrolled in fact when it legal to sell that to a five year old in England?

          The fact is these retailers are cutting their own throats.

          What do you think the proportion of profitable revenue is to fedex or UPS on national to consumer shipping of ammo? 0.001% of their revenue? By your argument they will be well advised to stop shipping ammo to anyone in any state to avoid risk of legal action.

      • That’s a feature not a bug. If you don’t like it either don’t do business with them or move out of that shithole of a state.

        • You’re right about the business part. Vote with your wallet and support a better business. However, moving isn’t always an option for everyone. What happens when there are no more safe haven states for guns? If you think you can be complacent in any state today you are sorely mistaken. Fight for your rights no matter your state.

        • Dwight, you say to “move out of that shithole of a state.”
          I admit that I live in a shithole of a state, and that Senator who wrote that letter bullying a private business (Senator Menendez) is my asshole Senator.

          But will you fund the move for my family of six (including two currently in college) to move out of New Jersey?
          Will you provide my wife and I both with good-paying jobs in another state, with the same benefits?
          Will you pay for dorm rooms for the two kids we currently have in college who will no longer be able to live at home with us if we move to another state?
          Will you pay the $41,000 annual college tuition for my son who is having his college tuition fully funded my New Jersey employer (because I work for that college in New Jersey)?
          Will you provide a house for my family in another state?
          Half a million dollars might help my family of six break even on a move out of New Jersey, so please send me a check for half a million dollars if you want me to move out of this (admittedly) shithole of a state!

    • Yep, I used to buy all my accessories off of Amazon, not going to Ebay for them, I guess I’ll just have to buy from an LGS that has a website.

  3. I never used Amazon and never will. I wish more people would simply walk away and refuse to use their services, but ya know unnecessary convenience apparently is the only thing people need to be paid to hand over money to those that continuously spit on us otherwise.

    • If you use amazon.smile, amazon will donate a portion of the profit from your purchases to a charity of your choice. I alternate between SAF and United American Patriots.

        • Alright.
          So if you search for SAF from this link:
          https://smile.amazon.com/gp/clpf/ref=smi_se_spo_icl_ll_gen
          You wont find it.

          On the main amazon.smile page, under the search bar, there is a small section that says “Supporting: XXXXXX”. Click this. A menu pops up. Do not click “shop charity lists”. Below that, click “change”. This will direct you to a more expansive amazon.smile search page. Type in “Second Amendment Foundation”. It should be first in the search results.

          You had me concerned for a brief moment that amazon removed SAF.

          Sorry green tip. Use the above search page. Greenpeace is still on there. You know they have antibiotics for that…?

      • Shhhhhh! Some anti-gunner may be reading this, contact his local dirtbag congressman and the next thing you know the donation will go to the Communist Party, oops I mean the Democrat Party. Hard to tell the difference anymore.

    • Some changes are easily made immediately, while others take a while longer. If I don’t like the way a new restaurant prepares their food, I never go there again. But even though I don’t agree with Starbuck’s stances on political or faith-based matters, I don’t stop going there altogether because I’ve formed friendships with some of the (rather social) employees and enjoy chatting with them as I order. But I *have* reduced my money spent to about one-quarter of what it once was.

      As for Amazon, I’ve bought through the site every once in a while over the years, but I’ve been slowly finding better alternatives for the various things I need. I think I’ve only bought from Amazon maybe three times over the past year. Will eventually be zero.

    • I make at least 2 or 3 purchases a week from them. I don’t care what Bezos’ politics are, the products are good, prices are excellent, selection is amazing and they get to me in 2 days or less. I don’t burn a drop of gas and no one dings my car door in front of my house. So I’m supposed to get all offended because they’re backing away from AR parts? If you were constantly in the government’s cross hairs you would make some token concessions too. That isn’t going to stop me from getting my Lee dies, or other accessories from them. They were the only place that had pistol rugs that fit my 1860 Army or 1858 Remington. Other “large” sizes weren’t large enough. Sure, with enough searching I might eventually find one somewhere else, but I don’t have the time to search for the sake of searching. I’m not going to cut off my nose because I don’t like someone’s politics; that’s what I shake my head at the progs for doing.

      • I figured out who the real d-bag is.
        You whine and bitch that Midway won’t ship reloading components to you, but at the same time claim you don’t care if another web store just refuses to sell certain items at all..
        What a giant crybaby.

        • Midway is in the business of selling reloading components; I expect them to be familiar with the laws and regulations regarding their sale. They are one of the vendors that people here are proposing to use instead of Amazon for their gun-related purchases. If Midway can’t be bothered to educate themselves, then in my eyes they’re a d-bag outfit. They can run their business as they choose and I’ll shop at Midsouth and do just fine.

      • Refusing to do business with Amazon on my part is far and away beyond politics, gun parts or otherwise. They are a garbage corporation, they treat their employees like trash, the work culture is utterly cancerous and they are nothing more than a trashy megacorporation that I refuse to ever hand a single ounce of anything over to at any point in time.

        Call me a liberal, I don’t really care. I’m just not going to support trashy corporations that spit on the population at large for profit, and I’ll rightfully call them out for that any time I can. You’re welcome to support them all you want with whatever amount of money you want, just know that you’re supporting a terrible company with terrible business practices that purposely abuses their employees. That’s all on you.

      • Seems like everyone is jumping on the OMG it’s an assault weapon thing. Don’t budge an inch, I would run my company any way I wanted to. If they didn’t like my products, they can politely close their eyes or look the other way.

      • And no more cholo dickies cargo shorts. I will have to depend on whatever my wife buys and her “whatever is trending” fashion sense! Id be wearing skinny jeans in no time and no one wants to see that.

    • I’ll bet if you look around, there are old ladies that would be glad to sew you up whatever pants you desire, in whatever cloth you desire, custom fit to your exact form, for just a little more than what you’d pay for a premium pair of jeans. They do where I live.

      • The Asian family owned dry cleaner shop in my neighborhood literally employs their little grannie for hemming and alterations. I’ve stood up on their pedestal several times, posing with my garment while Grannie chatters on with pins in her hand while the owner’s wife translates in her American-ish Engrish.

        The clothes all turn out fitting me perfectly. Grannie knows her stuff.

  5. Cause Amazon knows what is bad for us…cause even though we didn’t do anything wrong, we must be punished for bad thoughts…cause it is the only way to stop gun violence.

  7. Shop around. Amazon is handy for one stop… but deals they do OK, not great. There is an industry for fake reviews so can’t trust ’em either. So what’s left? Easy returns?

  8. I have seen people sneak state specific restricted items on Amazon before. I understand why they are getting a little jumpy. They do not want to take on the liability to policing things if some things nor tracking prohibited states for items. Not with Senators poking around.

    Also like typical, TAG is not the Truth, just did a search for AR-15 and all sorts of things came up.

    1-16 of over 7,000 results for “AR-15”

    • I didn’t search too and lots are showing up on the search but linked page is blank. So your “discovery” proves TTAG was correct.

    • Author here. I should’ve been clearer in the article but not *everything* mentioning ARs or AKs are banned – gun cases, bipods, t-shirts and books for example seem to be okay. But secondly, I guarantee the vast majority of the results you’re seeing are for items where “AR-15” is only mentioned in user-submitted product reviews. If you view the product title, description, and metadata, there will be no mention of “AR.” Modern search engines are fuzzy.

  9. Amazon is free to sell or not sell whatever they want. The part about this that bothers me is that an official letter from a senator is prompting a business to implement a sales policy to suit the views of one group of people over another. Why would congress meddle in whether a legitimate business sells products that are legal to own with no restrictions.

  10. Not with Senators poking around? No……anti-gun senators who are deceitful crooked immoral treasonous and socialist!

  11. The hallmark of sincerity is clearly not caring about something for decades then overreacting when somebody calls attention to it. Making it extra sincere is all the profits you’ve made before somebody called attention to it. A true champion of the cause.

  12. Libertarians celebrate the denial of service to gun customers. But they demand the christian bakers service gay wedding cakes.
    The freedom of association only goes one way in the Libertarian philosophy.
    According to Libertarians the 19th century US Postal Service is still available to gun customers.
    Segregation is now back in style. And growing in popularity.

    Separate but equal????

    • Again, calling TTAG out on the libertarian thing. Libertarians aren’t anti-gun. We’re WAAAAY pro-gun. We’re pro gay farmers protecting their weed crops with fully automatic machine guns.

      If you don’t want our help fighting for your rights because we also care about gay rights and stoner rights and women’s rights and minority rights and cis-het-old-fat-white-guy rights then, well, feel free to keep telling us how terrible we are. Just remember, we’re as tooled up and dialed in as you, just the gays like us better because we’re not absolutist jerkwads like the statists in camping in the republican and democrat parties are.

      • “the gays like us better because we’re not absolutist jerkwads”

        ****
        Not sure why you put that in there. Is that in response to Chris’ mention of how Leftists try to force Christians to engage in commerce and/or celebrations that contradict their faith?

      • Chris seems to have a problem with us Libertarians and I don’t know why. Maybe he met one of the “fringe” LP members and thought that we are all like that. We’re not. I used to be a conservative republican before. What finally changed me is that when the republicans get in control of something all of their “promises” they made to the people who wanted EXACTLY what the LP stands for go out the window. Libertarians at least TRY to cut taxes and spending if they can. The “TEA PARTY” was supposed to be geared towards cutting taxes and spending before the Republicans highjacked it and looked at where it is now. 22 trillion in debt and rapidly climbing. Does that sound like the original TP wanted?

        • I’m not the same Chris you are replying to but — you sure as heck don’t know the libertarian party, which as thrown the Second under a bus in the last few years . I suggest you look at statements by libertarian national candidates like William weld and Gary Johnson, they are certainly supporting gun control.

        • To Rocketman and Chris or any Libertarian
          The Libertarians have proven to me they are just as bad as the Democrats and the Republicans. They are in denial about their own culpability in the failure to defend the 2A.
          Name for me any Libertarian who introduced the Hearing Protection Act while both sides of the congress where in Republican hands?
          Did they make a speech on the legislative floor about National Reciprocity?
          Did they make any speeches when the Democrats were in control about the 2A?

          Rand Paul?
          Justin Amash?
          Jeff Flake?
          Or you name the Libertarian.

    • ‘Blacks celebrate the denial of service to white customers. But they demand the white bakers service black wedding cakes.
      The freedom of association only goes one way in the black philosophy.’

      See how it works? That broad brush of yours isn’t doing such a good job. It simply paints over every detail with the intention of showing a desired result at a great distance.

      (And no, again, I am not a libertarian and I do not support what Amazon and others are doing.)

      • I’m one of many who don’t care if a business doesn’t want to serve me because of my skin color. I will gladly leave and spend my money with a business that WANTS ME THERE. And there are a whole lot of blacks folks who think the same way I do.

        My feelings are not hurt. What many people don’t know is black people purchased their Tommy Guns thru the mail. With home delivery including the ammunition. This way they didn’t have to go to a white owned gun store that didn’t like them anyway.

        I would much prefer to go back to this way of buying guns.

        The issue in the 1950s was that nearly every business refused black customers. So it was difficult to get nearly anything you wanted.

        If a white owned business did serve blacks that business might be attacked by other businesses. The rival businesses would organize and work to put the accommodating business, out of business.

        Now does that sound familiar?

        Gun Accessory companies are now being refused service by larger companies, such as banks. Delivery and financial processing companies are refusing to serve the gun business.

        I was a history guy before I was a gun guy. So I see history repeating itself.

        The difference is I don’t see in the future the federal government coming to rescue gun owners. In fact I expect to see “Massive Resistance” in blue states if the courts up hold the 2A.
        The 101st airborne will not be sent to California to enforce a 2A court order.

        It was southern senators in the 1940s (?) who wanted stop gun mail order even back then.

  13. They are a business. Whatever they deem is best for their bottom line is a choice they have the freedom to make.

    Is it going to change one single thing about gun violence? Nope
    Are they allowed to do what they want as a business? Yes

    We believe in freedom. That includes when someone chooses to use their freedom to do something we don’t like.

    • Absolutely agree. And we as consumers have a right to acknowledge their right to conduct their business as they like, then tell them to go fuck themselves and spend our money elsewhere. Beautiful system actually.

  14. I’ve noticed for some time many AR products on EBay show applicability for “Troy PAR”. Obviously there is not that big of a market for Troy PAR parts, but a nice work around the rules.

  17. I’ve bought some AR accessories off Amazon, like scope mounts and QD sockets and swivels but none of those listings were dropped. Vendors were smart enough to not use targeted language I guess. Most of my AR specific hardware comes from regular gun sites like Joe Bob Outfitters or MidSouth Shooters Supply.

  18. Totalitarian Fascist’s will have their way for a day and then comes the next day,as it has for thousands of years.

  19. Talk about assault weapons do a search for strap on di1d0 for lesb1@ns and take a gander.
    Spelling is to get past the censor on this site.
    Reply

  20. Meh…I won’t buy off an evil company run by a leftard. Who is hellbent on putting local business in bankruptcy ala Wal-Mart. Getting a pittance sent to the charity of your choice seems like the ultimate in hypocrisy. I don’t buy Turkish crap or buy new Springfield guns either. It’s difficult to avoid Chinese crap…I wonder what’ll happen to a certain Utuber(704 Tactical) as 80% of the stuff he reviews is Amazon sourced?!?

  21. In other news Amazon announced that they have shut down the sales of hand and power tools when they discovered that certain prohibited items were assembled with screws and other hardware. Surveys have discovered that the greatest majority of tool users are old fat white churchgoing racist military veterans. These individuals have been known to actually fix things rather than wait for a government aid program. All leading presidential candidates have condemned the self reliance movement, particularly when it is aligned with gun ownership, disaster preparedness, and notorious religious cults.

  22. Too bad! One more outfit we won’t be patronizing. Gotta be ONE supplier out there with enough testicular fortitude to tell the whiners to “go pound sand”!

    • I’ve ordered a lot from them, and learned that if it’s 15-35% off MSRP, be prepared to wait 3-4 weeks. Shipping is free if you spend more than $50, I believe.

  24. More asswipe politicians furthering their agenda of total confiscation and control, so they’ll target free enterprise and capitalism as long as it punishes the end user. “All in all you’re just a…nother brick in the wall…”

    Spineless conglomerates like Amazon don’t care as long as they can keep crushing smaller companies out of business to increase their profit margins.

    Speaking of bricks, gotta support your local brick and mortar. Get out of the house and off the Net more often. Maybe the wife will be happier, lol.

  25. I’m okay with amazon choosing to not market certain products. Yes, I’m still an Amazon customer, and while their selection has expanded they’re not home to the same deals they were 10 years ago. Amazon was also chock-full of counterfeit items regarding gun accessories.

    I’d rather support legitimate firearms businesses. Midway, Brownells, OpticsPlanet, primary-arms, and smaller companies. I may have to pay for shipping, but the prices are usually the same, and I have more faith in getting a genuine product. Never mind they each frequently run sales and OpticsPlanet even gives credit that can be used towards future purchases (picked up a vortex RDS for $70 that way).

  27. A Senate letter to a private business is demanding specific sales information on legitimate items carried by that business (…provide answers no later than September 9, 2019…) or what?

    Tad bit Authoritarian ya think…?

    The Senate has no enforcement powers…this is how Congress browbeats businesses and individuals… with bloviated threats.

    No properly issued warrant…no info.

    Congress can KMA.

    • And? You don’t think Amazon wants things from Congress? “No enforcement power” on this issue is not the same thing as Congress’s huge influence over Amazon’s bottom line in other areas.

      Why do you think these companies spend millions, tens of millions, or in amazon’s case, likely hundreds of millions, in policy influence and campaigns?

      • The Senate letter was to ATN, concerning possible ITAR violations with one of their optics that is app enabled.
        I think that the Senate was way out of line in demanding all app user info.
        However, if they had requested that ATN check the IP address of of app users, and forward any info that was outside the US, (and ONLY info that shows ITAR violations) then it would have been reasonable.
        Like it or not, ITAR restricted items do end up overseas in countries where we don’t want it.
        I don’t want ISIS or some other terrorist group using advanced tech to attack our troops or allies.
        Yes, I know they have gotten it from the Obama administration (why do you think Stevens was in Benghazi?), but that doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye to the stuff we can use to target terrorists using our tech.

  28. There is no reason to use Amazon to buy anything unless you want it fast. I prefer to go direct to the retailer. Prime is not free shipping. It is fast shipping. I bought a tool from Brownells that cost exactly the same price including shipping as at Amazon. I could wait the extra couple of days.

  29. The only thing I buy from Amazon any more is books. I’ve been stung too many times by knock-offs and trashy merchandise that looks better on the screen than it does out of the box. There is nothing I need that I have to have it overnight. I can wait a week.

    • “The only thing I buy from Amazon any more is books.”

      For new books, the other big sellers are comparable in price; for used books, usually abebooks.com or ebay is cheaper in price.

  30. There are many in the firearm-related industries who take lessons from Ronnie Barrett on how to deal with states that pass asinine gun laws when he wouldn’t even ship 50s in for repair back to the state and made them send uniformed, certified officers to pick them up. Make them build their own factories to supply law enforcement in the state. The irony of that would be hilarious.

  32. Don’t buy any gun related item on Amazon, even if they start reselling them. Many many knockoffs. Trijicon won’t honor the warranty on their ACOG or other products if they are purchased on Amazon. That should tell you all you need to know.

  33. Frankly I have less problem with amazon or that matter Walmart and dicks since they are not mainly firearms related companies, than I have with mainly firearms related companies that don’t ship items perfectly legal in every state to certain states.
    I’d rather shop at amazon for gun related items than from a company whose core business is guns but which will not even ship a legal gun to my FFL or even ship gun cleaner to me!

  35. Entertaining…as the worlds mega-corporations close down on gun rights, acting in near unison, does the 2A crowd still champion its own demise and defend censorship by saying ‘well, google, twitter, Facebook, and Amazon are all private companies, so they can do whatever they want…’

  36. eBay, Brownells, Gunmagwarehouse, etc . . . .
    In a capitalist society I can take my business wherever I want.

  38. That’s OK with me. I’m getting really tired of all the factory seconds and Chinese garbage sold by Amazon.

Comments are closed.