By Beth Baumann, Alien Gear Holsters
Facebook’s site director, Chuck Rossi, is a self-proclaimed gun enthusiast. In recent days, he’s gotten flack for going to bat for his fellow Second Amendment lovers. The top social media site’s official stance on Facebook groups dedicated to selling and purchasing of guns was set in February. The buying, selling or trading guns and ammo across Facebook is prohibited by its updated Terms of Service.
Since the policy has taken effect, Rossi has become Facebook’s black sheep, advocating for gun groups on the social media platform.
To help ease tension among Facebook and gun enthusiasts, Rossi has a dedicated group of over 1,000 gun group administrators who he talks to on a regular basis. He updates them on where the gun policy stands and has helped others have their groups reestablished.
Currently, the only way Facebook can monitor this policy is by individual users reporting various groups and users for violating the site’s new firearms policy. Outside of this “tattle tale” approach, Facebook has no means of monitoring an individual user’s buying, selling and trading of guns or ammo.
Although Facebook has decided to take an official position on the Second Amendment, it’s nice to see one of the higher-ups defending America’s gun owners. Facebook is making the assumption that those who buy, sell or trade firearms and ammo on their website are doing so illegally.
How many people that are criminals are really willing to sell illegal firearms online? Seriously. Think about it. If those who conduct their sales on Facebook are criminals, why would they put themselves out there where the police could track them? There’s a greater risk that they will be caught by law enforcement. Now, that is not to say that criminals won’t do something stupid like this, but they would be putting a target on their back, both literally and figuratively.
According to Facebook, their decision to ban the private sales of guns and ammo was their way of preventing users from utilizing the social media site to go through the so-called “private sale loophole,” where gun owners can sell their guns to another person without a background check.
Facebook fails to acknowledge that there is no federal law regarding background check requirements for private sales. That is a power that is left to the states to decide. Each state has different requirements. Some states, like New Hampshire, give private citizens the option of requiring potential buyers to undergo a background check. In Washington state, however, a background check is required before the transaction can be completed. In most cases, federal firearms licensees (FFLs) who sell to one another are exempt from further background checks.
Instead of focusing on providing a quality product to their consumers, Facebook has now decided to get into the business of legislation and essentially, politics. The social media site has moved away from connecting people to determining what is socially acceptable for private citizens to do in their free time. Instead of allowing the American people to decide what is socially and morally acceptable, outside of social media and networking sites, Facebook’s leaders are attempting to manipulate users into siding with their political agenda.
People, like Rossi, who are defending gun owners across the nation, deserve to be recognized for putting themselves – and their careers – on the line for the rest of us who have little to no say in these matters. While the problem may seem minimal, there is a slippery slope effect that can occur. Anti-gunners start by pushing private entities, like Facebook, and move to elected representatives, to urge them to fully ban guns and punish gun owners.
Beth Baumann is outreach specialist for Alien Gear Holsters, a concealed carry holsters company. She is also a contributor to PolitiChicks and TheBlaze.