Groupon took all gun related promotions off the popular daily deal website yesterday morning. CEO Andrew Mason announced that the company would no longer associate with any business that is related to firearms. This includes shooting ranges, conceal-and-carry classes and clay shooting.
One reaction to the news is that of Central Texas Gun Works owner, Michael Cargill, who has done a considerable amount of business through Groupon. He recently offered a promotion on his concealed handgun license class. However, yesterday his contract with Groupon was terminated after the CEO’s announcement.
Cargill’s Groupon promotion, which was originally supposed to run Tuesday through Saturday, was nearly sold out.
“On Wednesday, after the President made his speech, the deal just went crazy and it looked like we were gonna max out,” Cargill said in a recent press release. In fact, Cargill says Groupon called him and asked if he could raise the ceiling of the number of people they would let in on the deal, so he did. The result was over 1,000 Austin based sales of the Groupon.
He said a representative from Groupon told him they stopped honoring all deals that involved guns after getting pressure from anti-gun groups.While the excitement of a near sold out Groupon was reassuring at first, Friday morning the Groupon was taken off the website and Cargill received a call from the daily deal site stating that since the CEO made the non-firearm decision, Cargill’s Groupon was no longer valid.
According to a recent press release, Cargill’s Groupon contract does say the company can terminate a deal at any time, but with written notice, which Cargill says he never received.
In a statement emailed to FOX 4 the daily deal company said, “All scheduled and current gun-related deals featured on Groupon North America, including shooting ranges, concealed-and-carry and clay shooting, have been placed on hiatus while we review internal standards that shape the deal inventory we feature. The category is under review following recent consumer and merchant feedback.”
Read more: My Fox DFW
