VentureBeat, an American media outlet has reported on a US petition raised by ‘Mayors Against Illegal Guns’ and ‘Moms Demand Action’ in which the Social Media network Facebook is lobbied to prohibit gun themed pages on sites it owns, Facebook itself and Instagram.
The article is US focused and relates directly to matters that arose within the US however if Facebook, who are ‘in negotiations’ with the petitioners and as stated discussions are ongoing and there have been positive developments suggesting talks from the petitioners perspective are favourable?
This must be a matter of concern to UK shooters and those who have both shooting related personal pages and of course the shooting organisations, Distributors, Retailers, etc own offerings via Facebook and Instagram.
If Facebook via their own site and that of Instagram relent and prohibit gun themed and firearms related pages in the US it is going to be a fairly short time afterwards, indeed if not at the same time that there is pressure brought to bear to implement the same regime to Facebook, etc internationally. The UK will potentially become a prime target for this when we consider the anti gun position so prevalent in this country already?
It has to be said that the division and lack of real support by some UK elements of shooting whilst they may not be immediately and directly detrimental they will certainly not help if, or perhaps more likely when, this becomes a real threat of definitive action.
Firearms UK campaigns for unity in shooting, to bring together and lobby for and on behalf of all those who are involved through whatever aspect of the subject and we will watch this closely and see if a response is required to future developments affecting the UK. We will also continue to offer our appropriate support to international groups.
We will monitor developments in this are and keep you informed.
Link to the original story: https://venturebeat.com/2014/03/03/facebook-to-announce-policy-changes-on-gun-themed-pages-exclusive
