San Francisco: Facebook Inc.is banning private gun sales between people on its social network, where users had been coordinating transactions without background checks.
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Groups advocating increased gun control have applauded the policy which reinforces restrictions on person to person gun sellers already imposed by Facebook.
The new ban updates Facebook’s regulated goods policy, introduced in March 2014, that banned people from selling marijuana, pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs. The ban only applies to private, person-to-person sales; licensed gun stores and salespeople will still be able to peddle their wares on the site.
Businesses can still advertise guns on Facebook and Instagram, the BBC reported. More than a million people have died due to gun violence in the past 35 years, last year we had more mass shootings than days in the year, and more than 100 people were shot and killed in Chicago in the first 10 days of 2016 alone. The tech firm announced that it intends to put a stop to unchecked gun sales, ramping up efforts to restrict unlicensed gun transactions.
“We’re gratified that our continuous conversation with Facebook over the course of the last two years has culminated in the company prohibiting all unlicensed gun sales arranged on its platforms”, said John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, according to NBC News.
An anti-gun group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said it was the fruition of two years of concerted pressure on Facebook by it and other groups.
Facebook believes the sales of private guns must be restricted and hence it is cracking down on such practices on its platform.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman praised the move to crack down on illegal gun sales.
The change-which comes in response to the evolution of commerce on social networks-does not bring an end to firearm sales on the social networks, as licensed retailers of firearms will be allowed to continue sharing information about their products and services.
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“Our continued relationship with Facebook resulted in today’s even stronger stance, which will prevent risky people from getting guns and save American lives”.
