One of the oldest firearms manufacturers in the United States, with generations of history supplying legal firearms worldwide to law enforcement, police and other government organizations, not to mention millions of civilian customers, has had their Facebook account shut down.

Getting the boot

According to a post that Smith & Wesson made on The Social Media Platform Formerly Known As Twitter (“X,” as Elon Musk wants us to call it now), the historic manufacturer saw their Facebook account canceled in late November, 2024. Here’s their announcement, verbatim:

Despite our extensive efforts and resources spent on trying to adhere to Facebook’s ever-changing community guidelines on firearms, our account was suspended indefinitely on Friday, November 22nd, 15 years after its original creation.

In an era where free speech and the right to bear arms are under constant attack, we want to thank @elonmusk and @X for supporting free speech and our constitutional rights guaranteed by the 1st and 2nd Amendments.

While we work to reinstate our account, we encourage our 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to seek out platforms that represent these shared values.

https://twitter.com/Smith_WessonInc/status/1861856272657822178

They posted the following image of their ban announcement as well:

And for his part, Twitter/X owner Elon Musk replied to Smith & Wesson’s post by saying “We restored the gun emoji and believe in the Constitution 🔫🔫.”

An ongoing trend

While some readers might be surprised by this news, they shouldn’t be. Meta-owned Facebook is just one of many online platforms that continue to enact restrictions on legal firearm owners—I myself have received warnings for posting photos from a hunting stand. YouTube creators have seen their channels targeted by anti-firearm restrictions in recent months. In an era of political and social instability, Big Tech appears to be doubling down on its slow march to ban public displays of firearms, instead of walking back policies that discriminate against gun owners.