Facebook Cracks Down on Gun Sales

Facebook, under pressure from gun control groups, has agreed to start cracking down on gun ads and illegal gun sales. The company says it plans to block under-18s from viewing posts about guns and gun sales, and will start removing sales that do not require a background check, reports the Los Angeles Times. The changes, which also apply to Instagram, were applied after a petition campaign started after a series of incidents, including the arrest of a 15-year-old boy in Kentucky who told police he had bought a handgun on Facebook, USA Today reports.

Most of the new rules, however, will only be applied when complaints are made and gun control groups including the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence complain that Facebook hasn't done enough. "I wouldn’t even call this a meaningful first step," the group's president tells the New York Times. "There’s a simple solution here. Facebook should be prohibiting any post that advertises the unlicensed sale or transfer of firearms in the US." Pro-gun groups, meanwhile, accuse the gun control lobby of trying to pressure Facebook to shut down free speech. (More firearms stories.)