HOUSTON, Texas — A gun range owner in Houston has had his Facebook page blocked. He started having trouble with the social media giant after he advertised a free concealed handgun class for the LGBT community after the Orlando Islamic terrorist attack.
When he tries to access his Shiloh Gun Range Facebook page, a message now appears (see directly below) that reads, “Unfortunately, you won’t be able to access your account while we’re reviewing these additional documents. We appreciate your patience, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.”
Facebook screen showing lockout.
The owner of the gun range, Jeff Sanford, told Breitbart Texas that his Facebook page was taken down by 9:30 p.m. after a local evening television broadcast about his free handgun classes for gays. He said, “You can see it, but you cannot do anything with it.”
Sanford has another Facebook page, “Shiloh Indoor Shooting Range and Archery,” but this page has only 1,654 “Likes.” The page that was taken down – “Shiloh Shooting” – had over 4,000 “Likes.”
Sanford said he is not “a social media nut” but he does not understand why the Facebook page was taken down. When he communicated with a Facebook representative, he was told that it was “because the page was not an actual person.” He provided his identification, mail, state identification, a Sams Club card and other information, and they reinstated the Facebook page only to take it down a few days later. Nine days later, he still does not have access to the page.
The Sanford family has generously offered classes to teachers, pastors, and church leaders, after attacks in schools and churches. He and his wife, Jackie Sanford, have also provided classes for veterans, active duty military, law enforcement officers, and animal rescue advocates. Jackie actually teaches the courses for the written and the shooting test.
After almost 50 persons were murdered, and over the same amount wounded by an Islamic terrorist at a gay night club in Orlando, the Shiloh Gun Range in Houston notified the LGBT community that they would be offering the free classes, as reported by Breitbart Texas.
Breitbart Texas went to one of those classes and interviewed the participants about why they were seeking to obtain handgun license certification. “The LGBT community used to feel that the only safe place they could really be was in and with the community,” Kristi Wrether said. “That was taken away after Orlando.” She jumped at the chance to take the LTC class when it was offered by the Shiloh Gun Range.
Breitbart News’ AWR Hawkins reported on June 7 that a group of companies and gun-rights advocates were making public that Facebook was “actively suppressing their posts.” He reported, “Content that would normally reach our nearly one million followers has steadily dropped to a fraction of what it once was, despite our page’s continual growth of new followers,” said a statement from Rob Russo, the social media manager for Alien Gear Holsters, one of the companies pushing back against Facebook.
Concealed Nation publisher Brandon Curtis was also reported to say, “We didn’t change a thing about the way we post [but] in February our Facebook traffic fell off a cliff. It sank by nearly 50 percent in that first month.” Curtis said he contacted Facebook and was told his company’s page was “suppressed” due to “too much commercial content.”
Hawkins previously reported that Facebook shut down author Brandon Maddox’s account because it used the word “firearms.” Maddox was selling a book that provides instructions for getting a Federal Firearms License (FFL). Although his social media post was not an advertisement to sell a firearm, his account was shut down under Facebook’s policy against gun sales. Other groups and outlets pushing back against Facebook include Gun Owners of America and The Truth About Guns, Hawkins reported.
Hawkins reported in late June that Gwendolyn Patton, spokesperson of the LGBT gun rights group Pink Pistols said, “We teach queers to shoot and we teach the world we did it.”
The Pink Pistols have a quote from Salon Magazine on their website under a tab, “About The Pink Pistols. Using that quote they say they believe that in the thirty-one states that allow qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons, “in those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible.”
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2.