Google Bans Firearm, Ammo, and Related Sales

I am really glad Google did this now. Personally I was sick of their tracking programs anyway. It has also opened my eyes to the wide world of other search engines. There are hundreds of them. This event has actually inspired me to ungoogle my life.
 
The timing of this makes me wonder if it's more of a legal thing than an overall "anti-gun" stance. I wonder if their lawyers recommended such a move to avoid potential frivolous lawsuits from victims of gun violence. Google is a huge target and any ambulance chasing lawyer would bust a nut at the chance to go after them.

Anyway, about the timing that makes me wonder this. Apple just won a temporary injunction banning Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus devices from being sold in the U.S. Their lawsuit is total BS, but they've got the judge wrapped around their finger. I suspect that Google is preparing their "thermo-nuclear" (to quote the megalomaniac Jobs) response to it and are tightening their other legal exposures in preparation for all out war with Apple. It makes sense to me that they would shore up their defenses on other legal fronts so they can devote more resources to destroying Apple (which I hope they do).

Just my speculation.
 
The timing has to do with Google forming a retail on line market.They don't want to sell guns or list potential competitors.
 
I was just reading a thread that got closed yesterday where a member here was reporting that google chrome, downloaded for his phone, imported his contacts list and bookmarks. He said it got all his bookmarks except the gun related ones.
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Since the thread was closed we won't find out any more, but I have a "Gun Stuff" bookmarks folder in Safari, and Chrome imported it along with all of my other Safari bookmarks with no problem at all.
 
I noticed that I didn't have the latest version of Chrome, so I just downloaded and installed it. Now I'm running Version 20.0.1132.47. Then I deleted all of my Chrome bookmarks, and re-imported bookmarks from Safari. The "Gun Stuff" bookmark folder and all of its contents transferred right over along with everything else.
 
Not to change to topic, but I didn't know PayPal was just as bad in regards to firearms related accessories too. I found out when trying to order a few pistol mags from botach. After placing my order - where PayPay was an option, I never received a shipping confirmation. I waited a few days and before I could contact botach, they called me and said that PayPal does not allow firearms accessories to be paid for using their service.

While I support pro 2A businesses, my business and personal life are far too intertwined to ditch Google. From the Android phone I use, Gmail to Google Ad Words... It seems I will have to begin searching for alternatives.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2
 
Perhaps we need to have a gun parts day where we flood Google's servers with searches for firearms related parts and accessories. Data overload can be a cathartic experience.
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I don't think you understand how much bandwidth that would take. "We" don't have the manpower or hardware to do such a thing.

Furthermore, even if we did, what would that achieve? It's the online equivalent of vandalism, and such a thing would only lead the writers of the policiy to feel that they were vindicated in the first place.

Here's the thing: how many times a day does the average person use Google for a routine search? And how many times do they pay for it? None.

So, a private company decides they want to monetize part of a service they offered free to the general public for years, and they decide not to include certain categories of items and services. Running a website, a search engine, or an online service isn't a charity, and some folks need to reconsider the sense of entitlement.

I'm not seeing a vicious attack on the 2nd Amendment here. All I'm seeing is a private company trying out a new business plan.
 
Your search - 12g - did not match any shopping results.

Suggestions:

Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
Try different keywords.
Try more general keywords.

Search Results

Ad

12-Gauge | Walmart.com
www.walmart.com/Hunting
walmart.com is rated 953 reviews
We have the Hunting You Need At Every Day Low Prices. Shop Now!
2,915 people +1'd or follow Walmart

Google is compensated by some of these merchants. Payment is one of several factors used to rank these results. Tax and shipping costs are estimates.




I guess walmart has enough money to stay on the page......:confused:
 
Oddly, I ran a Google shopping search for "Ruger LCR" yesterday from my home computer, and pistols popped up. So it apparently makes a difference which computer I'm using for the search, or the location, or something. I dunno. All this web stuff can be pretty PFM (Pretty Freakin' Magical = not well understood) for me.

Naturally, this happened when I was trying to demonstrate to Mrs. McGee why I'm not using Google any more, in an apparently vain attempt to show her that my tinfoil hat really isn't on too tight . . . . :o
 
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@ Spats McGee - have you tried clearing your cache on your home computer? Your browser might be working on old data.

FWIW
 
@ gunloony -- No, I have not. I take this as evidence of its PFM status for me. I will also try clearing that out. Thanks.
 
Where does this nonsense come from?
Some people seem to just want to create hate.
I went to Google Shopping and entered several firearms related searches. All brought up guns and accessories for sale.
Bad thing is rumors like this spread like wildfire.
 
It wasn't just a rumor - I found the same thing. When I typed in "12 gauge" into Google Shopping, I got no results at all. But when I typed in "16 gauge", I got everything I expected - nails, cookware, speaker wire, etcetera.

In fact, Google Shopping *still* isn't pulling up any gun-related results for me. I may need to restart my browser and/or empty its cache.
 
Clearing your cache won't affect it positively, if you have cached results you might be getting the old pre-ban results/pages. If you did get some results, I expect that after you clear your cache and try the search again, you will get no results.

Google filters what results are returned.

The Google filters aren't perfect, but they're good enough to effectively ruin it's usefullness as a shopping tool for ammunition, firearms and accessories.

Bing still works, and Google is opening the market up both for people to start using Bing more and for someone to create a firearms / hunting / shoooting sports search site that will return those results.
 
Shopping for a Springfield 1911

Google:

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Bing:

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If anyone can recommend a viable and legitimate alternative to the once "beloved" Google gun-search-shopping-comparison instrument, please advise. If, in fact, one does not exist, the individual or people who can create a similarly effective algorithm will become very "wealthy" (unless of course they choose to open-source it for the benefit and honor of the Second Amendment ;)).

-Cheers
 
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