The Return of r/gundeals
Ben Ryder 04.04.18
After a brief 10-day hiatus from reddit, r/gundeals is back and providing its 140,000+ subscribers with a home for the best firearm deals the internet has to offer. The ban, covered here by OutdoorHub, removed the subreddit for what Reddit stated was a “violation of Reddit’s policy against transactions involving prohibited goods or services.”
As of April 1st, the subreddit had been reinstated. Reddit user Semper1371 posted a timeline of events as well as an explanation of the policy and what it means for the users. Semper1371 detailed the following:
So What Happened? I’ve been under a rock the past 2 weeks.
Whew! What a fun and exciting 10 days! Let’s review what happened with a quick timeline:
- March 21 at 13:24:12 EST – Reddit announces site-wide policy change
- March 21 at 14:14:49 EST – r/GunDealsAnnouncementsis created as a “just in case” of policy change
- March 21 at 14:16:21 EST – r/GunDealsbanned because violation of (recent change in) Reddit’s site-wide policy
- March 22 at 21:45:02 EST – u/Nauticalmileinforms community that we’re developing our own website
- March 24 at 11:56:23 EST – Admins first acknowledge r/GunDealsmoderators
- March 29 at 14:14:04 EST – Admins say “update soon”
- March 30 at 00:22:48 EST – Admins ask us to make clear our compliance with new site policy and if so will allow r/GunDealsback
- March 31 all day – communications between moderators and admins in order to ensure subreddit’s compliance of new policy
- March 31 at 19:30:35 EST – Admins make r/GunDealsprivate so the mods can get to work housekeeping and prepping for launch
- April 1 at 00:42:00 EST – And on the 11th day, we rose. We’re Back, Baby
Now you’re all caught up on the r/GunDeals drama.
General Moderation Policy Changes:
- Permanent blacklisting of domains with non-zero risk will be enforced (e.g. Gunbroker.com, Armslist.com, etc.) In the past, we’ve made rare case-by-case exceptions only after verification that the end-seller was a licensed dealer. We will instead defer to a blanket zero exception policy.
- Policy Change And r/GunDeals
- So whether you believe the FOSTA thing messed with Reddit or it was Reddit being anti-gun, I’ll give you a hint: nobody on r/GunDeals cares. Politics will be left at the door or you’ll be banned, simple. We’re back, let’s keep it clean.
- With the Reddit policy change comes some subreddit rule changes. Thankfully r/GunDeals was already in compliance with the policy change, but we need to stress certain rules and explicity state others. As such you’ll find our newly polished rules in the sidebar as well as in the wiki. To give a brief overview here are some bullet points:
- Any links submitted to /r/Gundealsfor items under the purview of the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA ’68), to include all categories of firearms, suppressors, ammunition, etc., must point to the retail website of a federal firearm license (FFL) holder. If you are in doubt as to the status of a retail website’s FFL, please contact the /r/Gundeals moderators for assistance.
- Any links submitted to /r/Gundealsfor firearm accessories not subject to GCA ’68 purview, such as stocks, magazines, hand guards, optics, etc., may point to retail websites for companies that do not hold a FFL.
- As an extension of prior subreddit policies, links to external websites where direct firearm transactions between non-FFL holders may take place will be strictly prohibited. Unfortunately, case-by-case exceptions can no longer be made for links to Gunbroker, Armslist, state/local forums, etc., regardless if the seller in question meets the above licensing requirements and the listing follows subreddit standards of “readily available to the wider community”.
- Directly arranging or servicing firearm transactions, either through subreddit discussion or private messages, is strictly prohibited. This rule applies regardless of whether one or both parties involved are Federal Firearm License (FFL) holders. Vendors needing to provide resolution to order issues for firearms may refer users to the contact pages of their respective websites. Links to additional items on a vendor’s website may be provided during the course of discussion, but negotiation/arranging of sales/discounts within that discussion is prohibited. Violations of this rule may result in immediate ban from /r/Gundealsas well as Reddit.com.
Now What?
“I don’t know, things go back to normal? Probably want to get a new keyboard since I imagine some of you either smashed it in anger or broke your F5 button refreshing for any information. You’ll need the F5 for all these sales coming up.”
With the return of r/gundeals, the firearm community has had a small victory, if for nothing more than our bank accounts.
Do you use r/gundeals to find deals? Let us know if the comments below.
