Facebook is going to stop advertising gun holsters and other firearm accessories to children

Stephen Lam/Reuters

Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

• Facebook has announced it is introducing a new age restriction on weapon accessory adverts.
• Advertisers promoting gun and other weapon accessories, such as holsters, will have to restrict their audience to at least 18 years of age and over.
• The policy will come into force on June 21.

Facebook announced on Friday that it is introducing new age restrictions on weapon accessory adverts.

Facebook already prohibits the advertising of guns and gun modifications, like silencers and magazines, but is now updating advertising policy to restrict ads for accessories like holsters to over 18 year olds.

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It changes a previous rule that enabled advertisers to promote weapons accessories including, "products that are mounted on guns for the purposes of illuminating, magnifying or focusing in on (e.g. optics, flashlights) a target as well as holsters and belt accessories."

As of June 21, advertisers of weapon accessories will only be able to target adult Facebook users with these products. Here's the updated policy:

Facebook

Facebook's new weapons, ammunition or explosives policy.

The decision seems in line with recent conversations in the US about gun violence, in particular, school shootings.

Business Insider has contacted Facebook for comment.