After its Facebook account was suspended, popular American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson thanked Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech amid what it called ongoing attacks on the First and Second Amendments.
Andy Stone, a representative for Facebook’s parent company Meta, told Fox News Digital that the account was mistakenly suspended and has since been reinstated.
However, in a Friday post on X, Smith & Wesson emphasized the importance of Musk’s stance on free speech, criticizing Meta for suspending their account after the platform flagged some of its posts for promoting arms sales.
Founded in 1852 in Norwich, Connecticut, today Smith & Wesson is headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee and is one of the most popular gun brands in America, reporting $535.8 million in sales in fiscal year 2024.
Smith & Wesson said that “despite our many efforts and resources expended to adhere to Facebook’s ever-changing community guidelines for firearms, our account was suspended indefinitely on Friday, November 22, 15 years after its original creation.”
The maker shared a screenshot of the suspension notice it received from Facebook, in which the platform said some posts on Nov. 22, Nov. 13 and July 18 violated gun promotion rules.
Facebook’s commercial policy prohibits the promotion of the purchase, sale and trade of weapons, ammunition and explosives.
However, according to Facebook’s parent company Meta’s website, there is an exception for legitimate brick-and-mortar and online retailers, though their content is still restricted to minors.
Although her account has since been reinstated, Smith & Wesson encouraged her 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to “seek out platforms” that represent the “shared values” of free speech and the right to bear arms.
“In an era where free speech and the right to bear arms are under constant attack, we want to thank Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech and our constitutional rights guaranteed by the 1st and 2nd Amendments “said Smith & Wesson.
Musk responded to the post by saying:[we] believe in the Constitution.” He also noted that X had resumed allowing users to post the gun emoji after it was replaced by a water gun by Twitter in 2018.
The National Gun Rights Association, a Second Amendment advocacy group with over 4.5 million activists, also chimed in, saying, “Thank you for giving us a place to shelter in this storm of Constitution-hating companies. “.
In a separate post, the association called X one of the last centers for free speech and gun rights.
“It’s becoming clear that X is one of the last great bastions of 2A and Firearms content on social media,” the group said, adding, “the noose is slowly tightening everywhere else, looking to squeeze us out completely.”
This article has been edited to reflect new information from Meta regarding the mistaken suspension of the Smith & Wesson account.
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