Posted on 08/15/2018 5:08:49 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
E-commerce giant Shopify has moved to ban certain firearms and parts on its platform, including some semi-automatic weapons and 3D-printed guns.
The Canadian-based company revised its Acceptable Use Policy earlier this week to ban a variety of firearms and gun-related products.
Semi-automatic firearms with magazines capable of holding more than 10 bullets, attachments such as bump stocks that can make guns fire more rapidly, firearms without serial numbers and 3D-printed guns are among some of the items that are now considered "restricted."
“Solely deferring to the law, in this age of political gridlock, is too idealistic and functionally unworkable on the fast-moving internet,” Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke wrote in a blog post this week. “We have found ourselves in a position of having to make our own decisions on some of these issues. And along the way we had to accept that neutrality is not a possibility.”
Some companies have blasted the move by the e-commerce giant, which had been one of the few remaining that allowed the sale of firearms, Bloomberg noted.
One of the companies, Spike’s Tactical, said “the new rules will essentially shut down the sale of guns, gun parts and accessories over the internet by retailers who use Shopify.”
“We have invested more than $100,000 in the development of our Shopify store, which will disappear once these policies go into effect,” Cole Leleux, general manager of Spike’s Tactical, said on Facebook.
“This decision will have significant ramifications to our business and should concern every online retailer and Second Amendment supporter.”
In 2017, activists had also pressured Shopify to cut ties with conservative news site Breitbart and its online store. Lutke had defended the continued business transactions at the time.
“We don’t like Breitbart, but products are speech and we are pro free speech,” he wrote in February 2017. “This means protecting the right of organizations to use our platform even if they are unpopular or if we disagree with their premise, as long as they are within the law."
Lutke argued in his new post Monday that Shopify “had to accept that neutrality is not a possibility” when it comes to who can and cannot use their platform.
Did you know that Twitter, Disqus, and Facebook ALL CENSOR certain conservative firearm and abortion speech? See this: It is worth noting that both Disqus and Fakebook CENSOR any mention of a website, www.CodeIsFreeSpeech.com that provides FREE downloads of 3D-printable firearm blueprints. And, since Facebook/Disqus logins are so prevalent for posting commentary across the Internet, they are very effectively suppressing this “Forbidden Knowledge” almost EVERYWHERE. Please go to the website, download some or all 10 of the free blueprints, and then, repost it to your friends and across the Internet, to the extent you can. Strike a BLOW against Fakebook and judicial CENSORSHIP! Support TWO amendments at once, the First and the Second!
Most people by far order firearms directly from their favorite vendors anyway.
3D printed guns : People sure are spending a lot of time and resources to solve a problem that never, ever existed.
These “code is free speech” FRZombies have GOT to go.
There are plenty of ‘open source’ online commerce systems that they could use.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them even had ways to convert your Shopify system to theirs without having to go through the full expense of creating a new store from scratch.
I dunno. I'd probably not zot the guy. He's just got a political angle he cares deeply about. He's gone kinda single-issue. I've been there, but about the Assault Weapons Ban and the rescinding thereof.
There was a Freeper, Tabatha Soren, who was a single issue Freeper, on abortion, and SHE went TOO far with it. She became obnoxious.
I'm not seeing 2harddrive as there yet, but... 2harddrive, it WOULD be nice if you participated in another discussion from time to time. :)
What is blatant about this is the platforms get big, so big it is very hard to compete with them, without all this censorship.
Then they use their power to censor,and it is extremely difficult to come up with an alternative.
We must do what we can to create alternative, and fight them that way.
It is also worth the effort to call out their abuse of the power they have, much of it subject to regulations that make it difficult to compete with them, such as all the banking regulations.
It is an entire war on all things conservative, pro American, self defense and center right by all major tech companies not just social media and since regular companies are on the web they too can get involved online and offline. Just look at Alex Jones. They took advertisers all spring and summer before last weeks purge. He is now been denied service to his website twice this week. Shopify was one of the service cutting ties.
“I’m not seeing 2harddrive as there yet, but... 2harddrive, it WOULD be nice if you participated in another discussion from time to time. :) “
I can dig what you say, and I agree. It is just that there is virtually NO OTHER WAY to publicize this situation. Go to any website allowing comments, and the comments sections are controlled by a Fakebook app, that INSTANTLY zaps my post about this topic. By no means is the censorship limited to Fakebook’s pages alone. They control INTERNET speech. Try it - you will see.
“I’m not seeing 2harddrive as there yet, but... 2harddrive, it WOULD be nice if you participated in another discussion from time to time. :) “
I can dig what you say, and I agree. It is just that there is virtually NO OTHER WAY to publicize this situation. Go to any website allowing comments, and the comments sections are controlled by a Fakebook app, that INSTANTLY zaps my post about this topic. By no means is the censorship limited to Fakebook’s pages alone. They control INTERNET speech. Try it - you will see.
Ok, so, how about just a little moderation in getting the message out? I understand the need, but the appearance of zealotry dilutes the message. :)
“These ‘code is free speech’ FRZombies have GOT to go.”
So this is where you draw your line?
I fail to see in what way “code” should be exempt from first amendment protections.
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen folks on this forum take the position that pornography is protected speech. Personally, I don’t think the founders ever had that in mind at all.
Unless there is something I’ve completely missed from your argument, I take issue with the idea that such a position should get a person kicked off of this forum.
This should be the subject of rigorous debate among conservatives rather than taking the liberal approach that whatever their views are is considered to be “settled”.
I agree with the platform.
There are several freepers who are copy-pasting these scripts everywhere.
I even got a random freepmail with it.
They are just spamming FR.
There are already laws to fight this kind of thing, probably still on the books, dating from the days of Teddy Roosevelt.
The big thing back then was monopolies and “trusts” (think OPEC). The danger from such entities was well understood and applies directly to what these companies are doing. Those were also “private companies”, but the laws against these kinds of control applied to them.
Never heard of Shopify...
It appears to be the Canadian Amazon.
Have you tried putting spaces in the hyperlink. I doubt facebook bots can deal with that.
I have done that! I have also just said to go to CodeIsFreeSpeech but with a www. at the front, and a .com at the end!
First they came after conservatives via Twitter and Facebook, and then they came via Shopify, Dicks, etc. Leftists always taking rights and freedom from average citizens.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.