Google to block Guns & Gun Accessories Ads starting in September

Google is going to single-handedly change the way that businesses in the firearms industry do their online advertising.

Google is updating it’s “Dangerous Products & Services” policy to include a whole slew of things that *cough* aren’t dangerous if used properly and for the right reasons. These items include:

Handguns, rifles, shotguns, hunting guns, functioning antique guns, airsoft guns, paintball guns, bb guns, gun scopes, ammunition, ammunition clips or belts.

I have to ask: are they high? If they’re adding these to their ban list of dangerous products, they should probably stop advertisers from placing baby crib ads because they cause over 10,000 injuries and 100’s of deaths each year.

Their policy is as follows:

We want to help keep people safe both online and offline, so we don’t allow the promotion of some products or services that cause damage, harm, or injury.

Fine Google, if you don’t want to promote products or services that cause damage, harm or injury, you should probably add more items to your ban list. Here, we’ll help you:

• Any ads related to the fast food industry: Obesity kills over 30,000 people annually
• Any ads for cell phones: Texting while driving accounts for over 6,000 deaths annually
• Any ads for the airline industry: Airplanes kill 1,200 people annually
• Any ads selling beds: They kill 500 people annually
• Any ads for hippo conservation: Hippo’s kill over 2,900 people annually
• Any ads selling ropes: Over 8,000 people hang themselves each year in the US

If you keep these ads in place, you’re doing your part to kill roughly 50,000 people each year. Do you see my point yet? It’s not always the product that’s dangerous. Anything and everything can be dangerous. Why you feel the sudden need to single out firearms and accessories is beyond me.