Stakeholder #2

           The following blog discusses all the aspects of Stakeholder #2, those who buy/sell/trade guns on Facebook.

glasgows. "Houston Gun Show at the George R. Brown Convention Center" 3/24/2007 via WikiMedia Commons.
Creative Common Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

Description: The next Stakeholder in this situation on Facebook's new gun policy, once again, does not relate to just one person, rather a group of people. However, the claims that will be provided will be from certain individuals related to this group. This stakeholder is all the people that would buy/sell/trade guns using Facebook as their main outlet to post their firearms and to browse what others had. It is a little hard for people to take this certain group of individuals seriously just because they seem to have a bad reputation. People tend to think they are just uncultured bigots that want to make the world a scarier place; this, however, isn't the case. The people involved bring up some valid points like Facebook made the deals a little less sketchy and actually gave sellers insight to their potential buyers. Regardless, this group of stakeholders are upset about the new policy involved and firmly believe that Facebook just made the selling of  unlicensed guns more dangerous than it already is. Before the ban, this group of stakeholders could be found on Facebook pages, but now you'll see them more on pages like www.guns.news or other upcoming websites where they have to buy and sell their firearms.

Claims: 

1. "It is not easy to get a gun online without a background check!  All you gun grabbers who claim this, shoot a video.  Order a gun from online and see if you don’t have to go through a background check or provide a Concealed Weapons Permit (which you’ve already been put through a background check for) before you take possession of your purchased firearm!  I’ll guarantee that no person who takes me up on my offer can provide proof they obtain a firearm without one or the other." -Tim Brown
2. "I just lost Cheap Guns Minnesota which had close to 18,000 members...So PLEASE spread the word about this site to every group in EVERY state." -The Guard Dog
3. “Screw Facebook, I’m all up in some MeWe now” -User on GunDistrict forum

Validity: The first quote by Tim Brown seems to have some sort of substance to it. Although he is clearly angry in his article, he was really able to support the claims he made and didn't bash on pro-ban people without having something to back himself up with. You can truly see the passion he has for this subject and with some tweaking and extraction of unnecessary emotional commentary, I think he could have a good case for himself. The second quote from the Guard Dog who used to run a firearm trade page on Facebook shows attached he was to the page and that it obviously meant a lot to him. However, it doesn't really support his case because that also shows how many firearm trades are going unregulated. His emotion card may fly for some people, but not many. The last quote just shows the anger one previous user felt towards Facebook. It happened, he got mad, but he moved on. This could show that maybe everyone else will have a similar effect and just move on.

Similarities/Differences: This group of stakeholders really just have each other in this entire controversy. It is basically them against the world, because they don't really have a solid foundation to validate what they are doing. They are the complete opposite of Moms Demand Action, their list of allies is pretty short at this point.