The issue of firearms is nothing if not contentious, and a recent advertising policy change at Comcast has one Houston-area gun store up in arms.
"[The Arms Room has] been doing commercials on Comcast for the last year and just signed up to do another year. However, today an email was received stating that Comcast will no longer allow for advertising of guns and/or ammo!" the League City business wrote in a Facebook post.
"So they can show movies or shows that depict violence or have guns and ammo used in them but they will not advertise our gun shops??? What happened to the 1st Amendment? Is this not discrimination??"
KHOU Ch. 11 News reports that the broadcaster's decision to pull the gun store's TV spots brings it in line with NBCUniversal's longstanding policy to not air advertisements for firearms and weapons. (Comcast won federal approval to acquire NBC in Jan. 2011.) The Arms Room's ads feature people shooting machine guns (see the video above).
The no-guns ad policy also includes a provision that ads "that include weapons or fireworks as props will be approved on a case-by-case basis." A representative from The Arms Room complained that Comcast is "cutting off a lifeline" for the store.
Watch KHOU's full report on the firearms issue below:
