Business software provider Salesforce is flexing its anti-Second Amendment muscles as it bans sellers who use its software from legally selling a selection of (legal) guns, (legal) magazines, and an array of (legal) firearm accessories.
The Washington Free Beacon reports:
Multibillion-dollar business software provider Salesforce announced on Thursday that it would no longer do business with anyone who legally sells certain firearms or ammunition magazines.The corporation, worth around $120 billion, updated its Acceptable Use and External Facing Services Policy to ban anyone using their software from selling nearly all modern semiautomatic rifles and many other semiautomatic firearms. The policy outlines the kind of legal firearms and firearms accessories that cannot be sold using the company’s software. Those include any semiautomatic firearm that can accept a detachable magazine and any of the following features: “thumbhole stock, folding or telescoping stock, grenade launcher or flare launcher, flash or sound suppressor, forward pistol grip, pistol grip (in the case of a rifle) or second pistol grip (in the case of a pistol), barrel shroud.”That criteria would preclude any retailer who works with Salesforce from selling AR-15s, the country’s most popular rifle, and nearly all modern rifles readily available in most states. The policy, however, goes further than banning just AR-15s and similar rifles. It also bans the sale of ammunition magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds—magazines of that capacity or greater come standard with most handguns and rifles for sale in the United States.The policy further bans the sale of flash suppressors—which also come standard on most modern rifles—threaded barrels capable of accepting flash or sound suppressors, thumbhole stocks, blueprints for so-called ghost guns, and a number of other firearm accessories or parts.
If you’re not sure what Salesforce is, here’s an introductory video:
Apparently, the company’s CEO is an avid proponent of gun control, and from what I can see on his Twitter feed, a typical SJW.
Salesforce’s chief executive Marc Benioff frequently weighs in on political issues. Benioff was a brazen supporter of a measure in San Francisco meant to fund solutions to the homelessness crisis by taxing local companies with more than $50 million in annual revenue — including Salesforce. He’s been quick to lash out at other tech leaders, like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, for fueling tech addiction and has repeatedly compared Facebook to cigarettes.When it comes to guns, Benioff tweeted support of banning the AR-15 rifle following the deadly shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida last year.Salesforce said it hired a chief ethical and humane use officer late last year to “develop a strategic framework for the ethical and humane use of technology across Salesforce,” according to a press release from the announcement.
Needless to say, Second Amendment proponents are not happy with Salesforce’s heavy-handed corporate gun control.
The Washington Free Beacon continues:
Gun-rights groups decried Salesforce’s decision to try and ban their customers from engaging in legal commerce in firearms the corporation doesn’t like.”This is outrageous,” Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, said in a statement. “Here are companies selling perfectly legal products according to the requirements of federal law, and just because those products happen to be a certain class of firearms and accessories, the companies are essentially facing being black-balled. Our friends at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry umbrella group, rightly call this ‘corporate policy virtue signaling.'”The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry’s trade group, said Salesforce’s decision could have a serious impact on the industry.”It is a very chilling effect when a company as large as Salesforce puts out a policy like this,” Mark Oliva told the Washington Post. “A policy like this is not surprising from a company based in that part of the country.”Gottlieb took things a step further and suggested looking at federal legislation to counter the actions of Salesforce and other large corporations.
It’s not just obvious right-leaning groups who object to this move. Retailers like Camping World are also put in a difficult position.
On its website, Salesforce.com touts retailer Camping World as a leading customer of its business software, highlighting its use of products to help sales staff move product. A Camping World executive is even quoted calling Salesforce’s software “magic.”But behind the scenes in recent weeks, the Silicon Valley tech giant has delivered a different message to gun-selling retailers such as Camping World: Stop selling military-style rifles, or stop using our software.The pressure Salesforce is exerting on those retailers – barring them from using its technology to market products, manage customer service operations and fulfill orders – puts them in a difficult position. Camping World, for example, spends more than $1 million a year on Salesforce’s e-commerce software, according to one analyst estimate. Switching to another provider now could cost the company double that to migrate data, reconfigure systems and retrain employees.
[Featured image via Salesforce Twitter profile . . . add your own qualification to their laughable tagline]
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