Or so it would seem after Groupon canceled existing offers for gun safety and concealed carry training that were already under contract and being purchased by Groupon members.
I saw this on Twitter over the weekend, and immediately shot (heh … see what I did there?) a cancellation request of my Groupon account to their customer service unit. The reply I received shows just how cowardly and craven this company has become in the face of pressure:
Gun-related deals, including shooting ranges, conceal-and-carry, and clay shooting, are on hiatus as we review our internal policies for the types of deals that we feature. Groupon has always aimed to offer deals driven by local consumer preference and request; at this time, enough consumers have asked us to eliminate the category that we believe a review is warranted. A decision has not yet been made.
Huh? That’s all it takes to get Groupon to knuckle under? Public pressure? Well, let me suggest a few more categories that should be placed on their list to review:
- The mis-named “Fitness” category, which includes offers for “cardio hip-hop boxing” (which is undoubtedly a racist code phrase), in spite of the fact that far more people are killed each year with hands and fists than with rifles and shotguns;
- The “Events and Activities” category, which offers flight lessons, enabling more non-citizen terrorists to train themselves to fly airliners into buildings, a la 9/11/2001;
- The “Food and Drink” category, where you can find a food offer at “The Wine Guy”, an establishment that clearly serves alcoholic beverages, and is not accessible via any mass transit in the area — thus encouraging drinking and driving, which (again) kills more people every year than all guns combined;
- More damning evidence against “Events and Activities”, which offers paintball and Airsoft discounts, which can be used by terrorists to train for mass shooting incidents.
Where does it end, Groupon? Well, in my case, it ends here and now. I would encourage any other Groupon members to join me and cancel their membership — and be sure that Groupon knows that it’s not OK to treat law-abiding gun owners (or those who want to become shooters) this way.
Good on you George. Of course, the weasels and their attorneys will not see it that way because guns are “scary.”