Groupon puts all gun-related promotions and deals on hold
A little more than a month after the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., all current and scheduled promotions have been suspended, prompting calls for a boycott of the daily deals site.
Groupon has suspended all of its gun-related promotions, a move that has led some gun-rights advocates to call for a boycott of the daily deals site.
"All scheduled and current gun-related deals featured on Groupon North America, including shooting ranges, conceal-and-carry and clay shooting, have been placed on hiatus while we review internal standards that shape the deal inventory we feature," Groupon spokeswoman Julie Mossler told AOL Daily Finance in a story published Sunday. "The category is under review following recent consumer and merchant feedback."
Although the move is presumably in reaction to last month's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., it's unclear why Groupon waited more than a month to decide a review was necessary.
CNET has contacted Groupon for additional comment and will update this report when we learn more.
Groupon's cancellation of a promotion for a concealed-handgun training course led one Texas gun shop owner to call for a boycott of the coupon site. Michael Cargill, the owner of Central Texas Gun Works in Austin, said he was blindsided when Groupon informed him that the promotion had been canceled by CEO Andrew Mason.
"I'm asking everyone in the Second Amendment community to boycott Groupon, because the message they're sending is, 'Look, we do not want to support law-abiding citizens taking time out of their schedule to learn the safety surrounding firearms,'" Cargill said.
As with any hot-button issue, the move elicited strong opinions on Twitter:
Yet another company I won't be doing business with GROUPON pulling all deals that have to do with guns, idiots!
— Mick (@MickH31) January 21, 2013
@groupon Why would you have EVER offered deals on guns? Please don't offer deals on ammo or nuclear warheads, either. Thanks so much.
— TheRiverWanders (@TheRiverWanders) January 22, 2013
The shooting has focused a spotlight on gun-related activity on the Internet. A new shooting game bearing the NRA name has enraged a number of people who are now petitioning Apple to remove it from the App Store. An online petition at SignOn.org condemns the release of the app as insensitive to the memory of the massacre's victims.