AR-15 Giveaway Shut Down: Gun Business Has Facebook Page Taken Down (VIDEO)
An AR-15 giveaway has been shut down by Facebook. A contest was created in February by Pittsburgh Tactical Firearms owner Erik Lowry, and now months later the fan page for Lowry's PTF gun store has been closed down by the social media company.
Lowry has claimed that he received no notification or warnings from Facebook, and that even his attempt to create a second website led to the new one being taken down by the social media company as well.
Lowry has contacted Facebook about the issue, but has said he has received no official response. He has told The Blaze that he is still unsure why the AR-15 giveaway page was shut down.
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He suspects the issue may stem from when an article was published on Vocativ. The website reportedly complained to Facebook about the giveaway being conducted by Lowry's business, saying that it violated the terms of service.
A company spokesperson said Facebook was unaware of the situation, explaining: "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 Facebook page was taken down soon after, leaving Lowry furious. He has said that the Pittsburgh Tactical Firearms has suffered a dramatic fall in business since the incident, and as much as 40 percent of his business has dried up.
When the Facebook page was removed his business had 27,000 "Likes."
Attempting to resolve the matter, Lowry created a second page, however, he has said that one too was soon taken down by Facebook. But he is undeterred and says he will continue to create more and more pages for his business until the problem is resolved.
Facebook's lack of official communication to him has angered him further: "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."
