AR-15 Giveaway Shut Down On Facebook

An AR-15 giveaway was recently shut down by the folks at Facebook.

Pittsburgh Tactical Firearms owner Erik Lowry started the contest back in February. Months after the giveaway began, the social networking site has removed the fan page Lowry created for his business. The secondary page he put together was later removed as well.

The owner said the page was removed without any official notice from Facebook. Although he has attempted to contact the site regarding the removal, he told The Blaze that he still isn’t sure why the AR-15 giveaway was shut down.

Lowry believes the trouble may have started with an article published on Vocativ. The website contacted Facebook about the giveaway, which reportedly violated the terms of service. A company spokesperson said Facebook was unaware of the situation.

The spokesperson explained:

“Our Ad Guidelines prohibit promotion of the sale of weapons and the Ad Guidelines apply to Pages with commercial content on them. Ads may not promote the sale or use of weapons, ammunition, or explosives. Most of these should be removed per our terms.”

The AR-15 giveaway was later shut down as a result. Lowry explained that his business has decreased by roughly 40 percent because of Facebook’s actions. At the time the page was removed, it had roughly 27,000 likes.

Although Facebook removed the second page the business owner created, he said he intends to keep making additional pages until the problem is resolved. Lowry added that Facebook has yet to respond to his appeal.

“I don’t get it. No one has contacted us. It’s just unbelievable. What’s the point of an appeal?” he explained in an email to the Examiner. “We’re not going to stop. Take away our page and we’ll make another one. I want justice for everyone.”

The Pittsburgh Tactical Firearms contest previously sparked controversy when it published the name of its winner on Facebook. Shortly after the announcement, the company received an email from the winner stating that constant harassment had forced him to close his account.

What do you think about the AR-15 giveaway being shut down by Facebook?

[Top Image via Shutterstock.com – Bottom Image via Wikimedia Commons]