AR15.com
| Available in | English |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas , United States |
| Founder(s) | Edward Avila |
| Launched | 1996 |
| Current status | Active |
AR15.com is a firearms-related web forum founded as a mail list in 1996 and headquartered in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It migrated to a bulletin board system then finally a website which the owner called "the largest firearms website in the world".[1][2] The company that owned the website also manufactured AR-15 rifles and was founded in 1996 by Edward Avila, who moved it from Farmington, New York to Texas after passage of the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act in 2013.[1] The forum was described by Politico as a significant "cyberspace" forum for discussion of the bump stock controversy in 2014.[3]
The website was the subject of confusion over a 2020 Canadian government ban on an airsoft gun, leading to a demand by 170,000 petitioners for an apology to gun owners.[4]
The site was deplatformed by its domain name service provider, GoDaddy in 2021 following the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.[5][6] GoDaddy told Axios that the action was due to failure to moderate content "that both promoted and encouraged violence".[7] The action was viewed by users of a Republican strategy email group as "arbitrary and politically motivated".[7]
As of January 2021[update] the ar15.com domain is registered by Epik.[8][non-primary source needed]
References
- ^ a b Melody Burri (December 8, 2013). "Business blames SAFE Act for move from Farmington". Daily Messenger. Canandaigua, New York.
- ^ About AR15.com, official website, accessed January 16, 2021
- ^ Valentine, Matt (December 1, 2014), "The Gunfight in Cyberspace", Politico
- ^ Snyder, Jesse (13 May 2020). "Trudeau's gun ban appeared to target coffee and a toy;Confusion Conservatives want ban lifted, apology for gun owners". National Post. Ontario, Canada. p. A.6.
- ^ "GoDaddy removes gun forum website AR15.com from its servers". Fox News. January 16, 2021 – via Yahoo! News.
- ^ Michael Lee (January 11, 2021). "Amazon partner GoDaddy boots gun site from its servers". Washington Times.
- ^ a b Lachlan Markay (January 13, 2021). "GOP digital operatives aim to avoid "deplatforming"". Axios.
- ^ ar15.com DNS record via WHOIS, accessed January 16, 2021
Category:American websites Category:Mass media in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Category:Internet forums Category:Internet properties established in 1996 Category:Mass media in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex