On August 7, Facebook shut down ‘Tactical Sh*t’–an online community for military, veterans, law enforcement, and supporters of the Second Amendment.

Tactical Sh*t took years to build and had recently reached the point of attracting approximately 59 million viewers a month.

On August 8 Breitbart News spoke with TJ Kirgin–a former law enforcement officer and the owner of Tactical Sh*t. He said, “Facebook has not given a reason for pulling our page.” He said his best guess is that the page was pulled over “sweeping algorithm changes” and he pointed out that he has heard of other groups that were shut down, “even air soft groups.”

Kirgin said, “We’ve had particular posts removed in the past–posts that were critical of Sharia law or posts containing photos of women holding guns that Facebook flagged for sexual content. But in all these instances the post was removed yet the page remained.” He believes the fact that the page was suddenly pulled indicates “these removals were algorithmic and the posts were removed in an automated way.”

Tactical Sh*t also has an online gear business based in St. Louis, but Kirgin stressed that Facebook is not used to sell guns. He said the only things sold on Facebook are components, which do not violate policy.

Kirgin stressed that his company employs “14 employees, mostly veterans, and the loss of the page could mean the loss of income they can’t afford to go without.” He has launched a backup page at Tactical SHT.

In October 2015 Breitbart News reported that Facebook shut down author Brandon Maddox’s account because of the use of the word “firearms.”

Maddox was selling a book that provides instructions for getting a Federal Firearms License (FFL), a phrase that includes the word “firearms.” His post was not an advertisement for firearms sales, but his account was shut down under Facebook’s policy against gun sales.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.