Online Gun Sellers Do a Bang-Up Business

This October, Google joined other big online marketplaces including EBay, Craigslist, and Amazon.com in banning weapons listings on its revamped shopping site. The move, which the company said was in keeping with its advertising policy, predated the Newtown (Conn.) school massacre by about two months. Yet there is no evidence that Google’s action has curbed online gun sales.

That’s because sellers, incensed by the prohibition on gun listings, are finding new outlets for their wares. Cory Brown, a sporting goods merchant who runs several e-commerce sites in Rockville, Md., estimates that Google once helped drive 80 percent of the roughly $5 million in annual sales of ammunition, shooting accessories, and outdoor equipment at one of his online stores. Rather than just complain to the search giant, he launched FreeGunShow.com in December, an online classified ad service for guns and other gear. “I was like, look, I’m tired of these companies, whatever [their] motivations, prohibiting the sale of things that are legal,” Brown says. “When Google pulled the plug on this kind of stuff, I knew something bad was happening.” Another firearms marketplace, GunCycle.com, based in Princeton, Kan., is scheduled to launch on March 1.