Smith & Wesson is a historic company. They have been in business since 1852 when it was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson, after their previous company, the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company, was sold to a guy named Oliver Winchester, also a big name in firearms. They held the first patent for a revolver with bored-through cylinders, and while today they make a variety of guns, they are best known as a revolver company. 

These days, they face a business environment that has changed a lot since 1852. They face a hostile legacy media, as well as largely hostile social media. The company recently was banned from Meta's Facebook, for promoting the sale of (perfectly legal) weapons. The ban was reversed, but Smith & Wesson was, well, a bit miffed.

Despite our extensive efforts and resources spent on trying to adhere to Facebook’s ever-changing community guidelines on firearms, our account was suspended indefinitely on Friday, November 22nd, 15 years after its original creation.

In an era where free speech and the right to… pic.twitter.com/cJkIni54kV

— Smith & Wesson Inc. (@Smith_WessonInc) November 27, 2024

The X post states in full:

Despite our extensive efforts and resources spent on trying to adhere to Facebook’s ever-changing community guidelines on firearms, our account was suspended indefinitely on Friday, November 22nd, 15 years after its original creation.

In an era where free speech and the right to bear arms are under constant attack, we want to thank @elonmusk
 and @X for supporting free speech and our constitutional rights guaranteed by the 1st and 2nd Amendments.

While we work to reinstate our account, we encourage our 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to seek out platforms that represent these shared values.

Elon Musk to the rescue! Smith & Wesson's Facebook has been restored, with the company claiming an error. But Smith & Wesson is still disenchanted with Meta and Facebook.

After its Facebook account was suspended, the popular American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson thanked Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech amid what it called ongoing attacks against the First and Second Amendments.

Andy Stone, a representative for Facebook's parent company, Meta, told Fox News Digital that the account had been suspended in error and that it has since been restored. 

In a Friday post on X, however, Smith & Wesson emphasized the importance of Musk's stance on free speech, criticizing Meta for suspending their account after the platform flagged several of its posts for promoting the sale of weapons.

Granted, Meta and Facebook are private companies, not arms of government - as is Elon Musk's X. But there's a stark contrast between the two. Elon Musk bought Twitter specifically for cases such as this, wherein an American company that builds perfectly legal products and sells its products in compliance with the law could be banned from a major social media company for no other reason than its product being politically incorrect.

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Meta and Facebook seem to have seen this as an error and rectified it, but why did this happen in the first place?

The advent of Elon's X and his growing influence in the Trump administration may well be the first sign of a sea change in social media. The left's efforts to duplicate X's success in a leftist-only package have failed miserably. X is thriving. Free speech is protected there; it's not yet perfect, but it's going the right way.

Smith & Wesson is correct here in urging their fans to leave Facebook and seek out more 1st (and 2nd) Amendment-friendly platforms. We should all consider their advice.