Obviously, Groupon is perfectly within their rights to sell whatever type of deals they so choose, but I gotta’ say — I am genuinely surprised by this decision. The firearms industry is going gangbusters, applications for concealed carry permits are skyrocketing across various states (see: South Dakota, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and etcetera), and people are going to find firearms classes to take regardless of whether Groupon helps them do so or not — must be some tremendous pressure they’ve been getting from gun-control advocates, and I’d guess that a good chunk of their customer base is along the more urban-liberal line, too. HuffPo reports:

Under pressure from gun-control advocates, Groupon abruptly canceled all gun-related deals in North America on Friday.

The move sparked anger and even boycotts from some gun business owners who say their deals were immensely popular and that the online coupon company failed to notify them of the change.

Gun control proponents applauded the move. “We, along with other groups, had been applying pressure to Groupon for some time now because we were disturbed by the flippant nature of previous gun deals,” said Ladd Everritt, director of communications at The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit. …

Groupon told HuffPost that its move was not politically motivated. In an emailed statement, Mossler said the deal site’s categories and inventory “evolve with consumer and merchant sentiment” and the “change to our inventory is not a statement against these small businesses.”

As much as President Obama and certain Democrats have conspicuously been avoiding the term “gun control” and adroitly replacing it with “gun safety,” it seems to me that these gun-control advocates are doing their part to blithely ensure that gun safety and education just doesn’t happen. People use and carry guns defensively across America every single day, ensuring both their own safety as well as creating a positive externality for their communities, and these introductory, concealed carry, and practice classes are what make it happen. What a shame.