Google Censors Guns… Searches for Water Guns, Guns and Roses, AR-15 Come up Blank

Google apparently has its own idea of gun control.

The search-engine giant reportedly censored any search results related to the word “gun” in its shopping section.

Any combination of words that used the term “gun” was censored until late Tuesday, leading to completely unrelated terms being impacted as well.

The full-fledged censorship ended up docking results for terms such as “glue gun,” “Guns and Roses” and even the word “burgundy.”

While the search restriction was eventually lifted for the word late Tuesday, the term “AR-15” and “revolver” appear to still be suppressed, according to Breitbart News.

Some took to Twitter to express their frustration with the search engine’s decision to censor words with “gun” in it and provide examples of how the stunt turned out.

The following words have been censored for Google Shopping:
Gun
Water Gun
Nail Gun
Glue Gun
Gundam
Popgun
Shogun
Gunboat
Flashgun
Blowgun
AR-15
Gunstocks
Glock
Pistol
Shotgun
Guncotton
Burgundy
And more

But you can still search for AK47s

— Kage (15 Days 🎂) (@Lord_Vulkan101) February 27, 2018

So @Google is literally blocking any shopping term that includes “gun”, anywhere in it.

Includes gunk, shogun, laguna… all terms that sure, have “gun” in the name, but have absolutely nothing to do with the weapon. pic.twitter.com/5BJOgNGEUR

— That Girl 👑 (@ThatGirlOpinion) February 27, 2018

So yeah. Google is fine with all sorts of things that'll likely get you on a federal watch list, but video games with the word "gun" in them are a no-no. pic.twitter.com/qP2rSUK62l

— Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) February 27, 2018

In an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, contributor Philip Wegmann noted that Google can do as they please since they are a private company.

However, he noted that the effort is ineffective, pointing to a 2013 piece by The Washington Post that revealed purchasing firearms on the internet is extremely difficult.

Wegmann concluded his piece by stating that Google’s “war on the gun was really quite silly and pointless.”

“The virtue-signaling stunt only exposed their own stupidity,” he added.

While Google’s recent attempt at gun censorship may appear to be a surprising one, it isn’t the first time the company has attempted to ban gun-related searches.

In 2012, Google notified merchants that they would not allow them to list firearms or firearm-related items on their shopping list, according to a 2012 report from Search Engine Land.

The letter Google sent to various merchants stated that they would “begin to enforce a set of new policies for Google Shopping in the coming weeks,” that included a list of prohibited products such as “guns, ammunition and knives.” (For more from the author of “Google Censors Guns… Searches for Water Guns, Guns and Roses, AR-15 Come up Blank” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.