You Can Stop Facebook's Murder Market

You know that Margaret Mead quote that half your friends have below their email signature line: The one about how a small group of thoughtful committed citizens are the only way to change the world? It has become a bit of a cliché but when it comes to keeping gun sales off of Facebook, it's not only theoretically but actually true. You can do it. And if you don't do it, no one will.

It matters. It truly does. Just ask Kate Ranta. Kate, whose story is featured in our latest full-length feature Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA, was severely wounded when her estranged husband barged into her home and shot her in front of her pre-school age son. Police had taken away his first arsenal in response to Ranta's domestic violence restraining order but, as we know all too well, there are still innumerable ways for dangerous people to get guns if they want them.

That's why Brave New Films has put together a detailed "how to" video and web tutorial to help crowd source Facebook's gun ban enforcement.

We walk you step-by-step through how to find people trying to sell guns on Facebook and how to report them to get the sale halted. It is not difficult but there are a few tricks of the trade that are worth learning -- like where they gun sellers have migrated to since they are shut out of open commerce and what code words to use in the search function to track them down.

We should shut down all private sales, period. Law enforcement should have the tools they need to know who has deadly weapons at any given time. Congress should take the lead. But so far, they are still too in the thrall of the gun company's and their sales and marketing team, the NRA, to take even baby steps toward keeping us safe. I, for one, am not holding my breath.

Until that changes, it's up to all of us. We hope this helps.