Moms Demand Action to End Gun Sales on Facebook
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America launched a campaign to take a “closer look” at how Facebook makes it easy for guns to be bought and sold online – without criminal background checks.
The campaign to call on Facebook and Instagram (owned by Facebook) to prohibit gun sales and trades on their site.
Unlike other online platforms like Craigslist and Google+, Facebook and Instagram allow gun sales and trades – making them unregulated online marketplaces where felons, domestic abusers and other dangerous people can easily obtain firearms, according to Moms Demand Action.
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The campaign has shed a light on the vast, unregulated market for private gun sales on the internet.
It says an estimated 6.6 million gun transfers occur every year without a background check, many through online transactions like those initiated via Facebook and Instagram.
Gun Sales on Facebook
In 2011, the City of New York conducted an unprecedented undercover investigation of firearm sales online by determining whether unlicensed sellers advertising guns for sale on the internet are complying with federal law to refuse to sell to people who admit that they could not pass a background check – a disturbing 62 percent of these sellers agreed to sell to buyers who said they probably couldn’t pass a background check, informs Moms Demand Action.
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Moms Demand Action and Mayors Against Illegal Guns have called on supporters to share memes, post comments on Facebook, and tweet to #EndFacebookGunShows.
The petition asking Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom has already received more than 30,000 signatures, says Moms Demand Action.
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America was created to build support for common-sense gun reforms. The nonpartisan grassroots movement of American mothers is demanding new and stronger solutions to lax gun laws and loopholes that jeopardize the safety of children and families.
Photo courtesy: Moms Demand Action
