Amazon’s Alexa Bans Guns

You: “Alexa, find me cheap ammunition.”

Alexa: “I’m sorry, all gun-related items are banned from Amazon.”

—————————————————————-

Don’t laugh. The above conversation might be coming soon. The major tech platforms have rolled out numerous restrictions over the past 24 months. Consider the events of the recent past:

• 1. PayPal bans fireams.

• 2. Google bans gun-related items

• 3. Facebook bans all gun sales and gun transactions.

• 4. YouTube shuts down multiple user channels over publication of videos intended to sell firearms and accessories, and even those which display how to safely install accessories.

• 5. Citibank bans gun accessories, requires background checks on all purchases, and mandates auto-failure for background checks if the government fails to reply

• 6. Shopify bans most gun-related sales.

On the surface these restrictions could seem like isolated events. But or course they’re not. Each successive company has drawn upon the actions of the previous company. Even the text of their respective bans show similarities. And, of course, all these restrictions were similarly introduced, with no forewarning and little public communication. There have been no public explanations. There has been no mea culpa. None have spoken about the implicit constitutional rights issues.

The events above show that tech companies now have a playbook. A playbook for banning guns.

And a playbook they can use for launching anti-gun rules on the platforms of the future. So who will be the next platform to use that playbook and ban gun-related content? Maybe Instagram? What about Google Search? Amazon? Alexa? Siri?

Because make no mistake: the playbook has been written and ALL the major tech platforms are studying up on how to roll out new restrictions in the future. And these restrictions will apply to many of the new technology advancements we have yet to discover and implement. Want to use artificial Intelligence to track target shooting? Nope. Banned. Want Alexa to find cheap .22 ammunition? Sorry, that’s banned. Want to 3D print something? Sure! As long as it’s not gun-related.

As the founder of Gun Rodeo, I have dedicated numerous hours to developing tech services for the Shooting Sports industry. And I can’t help but notice the long thread of anti-gun continuity that is being overlooked by many of us. Yes, the anti-gun sentiment visible on the Internet today is a just moment in time. But it is also part of a continuum. And we don’t believe it will stop.

We want to encourage everyone to take a long view of current anti-gun sentiment. It is now more important than ever to focus on the actions of the large tech platforms, what these actions mean, and what they will do to our future. These actions mean the big Internet platforms are largely controlled by gun control advocates. And in the future their restrictive playbook will bring us a world where our rights are diminished and our ability to develop flourishing online communities could be quashed.

At Gun Rodeo, we have been asking this basic question: Why do we, as gun rights advocates, continue to invest time and energy in platforms which will eventually curtail our constitutional rights?

We sincerely hope these trends will stop, or that we will see a change. But we’re not holding our breath. Nor are we waiting for Google to give us directions to the local gun range.

Tim Miller
Co-Founder
Gun Rodeo