eBay Banning AR-15-Related Gear and Images?

Chris Bushnell is the owner of Cypress Collectibles and patchaddict.com and sent us the following:

I am the owner of an embroidered patch company right here in Austin. Today I got a call from eBay saying that I cannot sell our 2nd Amendment patches that have an image of an AR-15 on them. eBay told me on the phone that they will be removing all clothing items this week from eBay that have an AR-15 or any assault rifle on them. That includes my patches, plus hats, t-shirts, and more. If you search eBay today for “AR15” you only get about 1,400 results. Yesterday it would have literally been tens of thousands. Hats, shirts, and our Austin-based company’s patches are all banned because the snowflakes can’t handle even seeing a PICTURE of a black rifle. eBay is banning the word AR-15 and “assault rifle. They say, “This includes references in the title, item specifics, description or image”

Sure enough typing “AR15” or “AR-15” into eBay’s search bar yields just over 1400 items. Searching for “assault rifle” returns over 23,000 items including M4 airsoft guns, toy AK’s and a t-shrit with the image of an AR printed on it.

TTAG has called eBay for comment but hasn’t yet received a response. The other-ing of guns and the people who own them continues apace.