photo: Samir Kamble
Moms reveal gun sold via Facebook to 15-year-old who took gun to school
(PRN/USN) INDIANAPOLIS,
February 24, 2014 - Moms Demand Action for Gun
Sense in America
issued a statement today on the latest developments in its campaign to ask
Facebook and Instagram to prohibit gun sales and trades on its platforms.
The organization, an uprising of American mothers committed to ending gun violence that was founded in the wake of Newtown, announced that it has entered formal discussions with Facebook – and also revealed another case of a gun sold via Facebook that ended up in the hands of a 15-year-old who took the gun to his high school in Kentucky.
"It's a mother's worst nightmare to learn how easy it
was for a 15-year-old to buy a gun via Facebook – and that he took the gun to
his school in Kentucky.
This is just another
example of how Facebook and other sites make it easy for minors and dangerous
people to get guns online, with no questions asked, and exactly why we are
asking Facebook to review its current policy," said Shannon Watts, founder
of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
"We recently began conversations with Facebook about
what they can do to end the easy access to guns on its platform – because until
they do, they are taking the risk that they are facilitating the illegal sale
of guns on their social network. American moms are the number one demographic
on Facebook – and we don't want guns sold into dangerous hands on the same site
where we post our family photos."
An Ohio man was indicted last week for illegally
selling a gun across state lines. The seller and his 15-year-old buyer were connected via Facebook – and the buyer later
took the gun to his high school's homecoming football game in Kentucky. This indictment follows
on the heels of an arrest of a felon in Storm Lake, Iowa, who acquired a
gun via Facebook from an undercover cop.
Moms Demand Action launched a campaign last month to call on Facebook and
Instagram (owned by Facebook) to prohibit gun sales and trades on their
sites. 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.
Moms also released a "closer look" video to riff
on Facebook's 10th anniversary "look back" videos that shows how
Facebook makes it easy for guns to be bought and sold online – without criminal
background checks.
The video has been viewed more than 375,000 times and can be
seen here: www.DemandAction.org/Facebook
The campaign has shed a light on the vast, unregulated market
for private gun sales on the internet, where transfers routinely occur without
a background check – many initiated with posts on sites like Facebook and
Instagram. Criminals are flocking to the internet to buy guns – a recent investigation by Mayors Against Illegal Guns found
that 1 in 30 prospective gun buyers on Armslist.com had committed crimes that
prohibited them from possessing guns.
The petition asking Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom has already received more than 75,000
signatures.
Much like Mothers Against Drunk Driving was created to
change laws regarding drunk driving, 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 our children and families. In just one year, the
organization has more than 140,000 members with a chapter in every state in the
country.
The group recently joined forces with Mayors Against
Illegal Guns, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the
country. For more information or to get involved visit www.momsdemandaction.org.
You can follow them at Facebook www.facebook.com/MomsDemandAction or
on Twitter @MomsDemand.
No comments :
Post a Comment