The National Shooting Sports Foundation – the firearms industry’s trade association – has noted Facebook’s nothingburger announcement regarding its policy toward firearms sales. The only real point of interest was the fact that Zuckerberg & Co. talked to almost every gun grabbing organization in the country in formulating their non-action. Hence, the NSSF’s terse response, after the the jump . . .

Facebook today acted to provide clarification to its policies on postings concerning firearms and agreed to provide educational messaging on its platform. We are in agreement that all applicable laws should be observed in the private transfer of firearms. We would have welcomed the opportunity to provide our industry’s perspective, however, and regret that we were not consulted. Facebook’s clarification will not affect the lawful commerce in firearm and ammunition products for NSSF members and their customers.

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28 COMMENTS

  1. So “eternal ire” is not supposed to be… y’know… ETERNAL? Yeah, let’s forgive ’em. And while we’re at it, we need to forgive Vlad the Impaler and Gilles de Rais.

  2. From Facebook, “We will require Pages that are primarily used by people to promote the private sale of commonly regulated goods or services to include language that clearly reminds people of the importance of understanding and complying with relevant laws and regulations.”

    “…private sellers of firearms in the U.S. will not be permitted to specify “no background check required…”

    So, if you live in a state where you can legally sell a firearm without a background check (e.g., dealer to dealer), and you are following the law, you still can’t have a Facebook page for your business???

    Maybe they should have consulted a lawyer instead of Moms Who Hate Guns.

    • I think a targeted, technical objection to that statement might have some effect, as it appears FB wants to simply defer to local/Federal law with their policy.

    • Noticed that as well. Maybe the workaround is a statement in you ads that state both: “In compliance with %INSERT STATE HERE% laws regarding firearm sales between individuals, this gun is legally available to %INSERT STATE HERE% residents and a background check is not required.”

    • Sure you can, you just don’t plaster NO BACKGROUND CHECKZ!!1! all over the place. Who does that anyway besides an agent provocateur?

  3. If I am going to sell a gun on Facebook and because it is a non-op or some other reason that it does not require a background check, then I will note it in the description:

    “Because this is a non-operational firearm there is no background check required in my state”

    or whatever the actual reason is as to avoid confusion and lurking moms.

  5. Funniest thing is, this won’t affect the firearms industry, as I doubt the sales were all that common. More likely individuals selling their firearms to others. It’s more likely that it’s going to get a bunch of people who were selling drugs on their radar instead.

    • I’d never considered going to FB to look for a firearm to purchase, so I decided to see what the fuss was about. I found most folks offering their firearms for sale were wanting as much or more than I would pay at any local or online retailer anyway, so I wasn’t missing much.

  6. It only goes to show that after billions of dollars, a person can still be a f%^#*@g loser; oh, wait, ……. we should have recognized Suckerberg’s coming; we had another pencil-necked loser named Bill Gates.

  7. The fact that anyone uses Facebook anymore, and supports their collectivist ways, not to mention the voluntary surrender of your privacy absolutely amazes me.

    Get a clue people!

    • It only takes the privacy you offer it. I don’t use it for photos or personal information, just as a method of emailing people I otherwise would lose contact with… an also selling guns without background checks to terrorists. Crap, did I say that part out loud?

    • And I can’t convince my daughter to get the hell off FB. Even with all the horror stories.

  8. To tell you the truth, I’m more than a little disgusted at the straws we’ve been grabbing at lately and calling them victories.

  10. Here’s an idea……get off Facebook. Send a clear signal to Facebook that you don’t care for their policies.

  11. FB has changed nothing, they are operating by the same policy they had before. And yet the screeching a$$holes on TV are all screeching that FB caved and removed all posts about guns. F**king retards and liars.

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