Shortly after the San Bernardino terrorist attack, Facebook banned private gun sales on its site -- a policy one California man decided to test, with surprising results.
Buzzfeed news journalist Alex Kantrowitz bought his new AR-15 variant from a private seller on Facebook just to find out if he could.
The social media giant announced their ban on gun sales in January off the heels of several mass shootings. But Kantrowitz said it didn't take long to find firearms for sale in several gun enthusiast groups.
"Coming to a deal to buy this gun on Facebook was not hard," he said. "I joined a group in Friday, was approved hours later. I messaged someone Sunday night. Monday we came to a deal."
Kantrowitz and the seller drove to a licensed gun dealer in Rancho Cucamonga. That dealer performed the necessary background check and held on to the gun for 10 days, which is required by California law.
Ten days later, Kantrowitz officially owned it.
"It's completely above board. Everything we did was right along the letter of the law," Kantrowitz said.
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When asked how this could happen, a Facebook spokesperson told NBC4 they are constantly looking for anything that could violate their policies. They have teams around the world who speak more than 40 languages analyzing millions of pieces of content.
Facebook also gets help from users who red flag anything suspicious.
But Kantrowitz doesn't think the system is working.
"If Facebook thinks its policy is going to reduce gun violence, then it should enforce it," he said. "If it thinks it's not going to reduce gun violence, then why have it at all?"
