Ads for a gun course (plus free gun!) are turned down by Facebook as a violation of its guidelines.

With the shootings at Virginia Tech and so many high schools still echoing around the country, it’s perhaps not too surprising that the social networking site Facebook has turned down ads from the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute, which is owned by millionaire Dr. Ignatius Piazza.

Vnunet reports that the site refused to host pay-per-click ads from the Institute that offered a four-day course in handgun training, as well as a one-day concealed weapons permit. To top all that, they also offered the first 5,000 respondents a free handgun.

Facebook rejected the ad – perhaps somewhat contentiously - under Point 6 of its guidelines, which state:

"Provocative images will not be accepted. Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote adult content, including nudity, sexual terms and/or images of people in positions or activities that are excessively suggestive or sexual. Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote offensive, profane, vulgar, obscene, or inappropriate language. Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote defamatory, libellous, slanderous and/or unlawful content."

To be fair, the ads don’t seem to hit any of those criteria, and Piazza said,

"Facebook administrators must find the idea of Front Sight positively changing the image of gun ownership through training law-abiding citizens in the safe and responsible use of handguns to be offensive, profane, vulgar and obscene. It appears to me that Facebook is discriminating against gun owners and placing gun ownership in the same category as pornography."

But that is another debate altogether. Facebook has offered no comment on the decision.