A Bearing Arms reader and Amazon.com storeowner got this little nastygram in his email last night from Amazon.com’s drones.

No, I meant the human kind:

From: Amazon Services <[email protected]>
Date: January 27, 2014 at 7:27:01 PM CST
To: [name/email redacted]
Subject: Notification of Restricted Products Removal
Reply-To: “[email protected]” <[email protected]>

Hello from Amazon.

We are writing to let you know that the following detail pages have been removed from our catalog:

ASIN: B00302LVA8, SKU: L6-6BU9-LC9R, Title: “bt folding foregrip”

This product has been identified as an assault weapon grip or foregrip. Assault weapon grips, foregrips, and all assault weapon accessories are prohibited from sale and listing on Amazon.

For more information on our policies, search on “Restricted Products” and “Listing Restrictions” in Seller Help.
**Action Required: Within 48 hours of this notice, please review your remaining listings and make any changes necessary to ensure compliance with our policies.

Failure to comply with this request may result in the removal of your selling privileges.

We appreciate your cooperation and thank you for selling on Amazon.com.

Amazon Services

For the record, the “BT Folding Foregrip” is an accessory manufactured by Empire Paintball, designed to mount on their “Battle-Tested” (BT) paintball markers.

Terrifying, isn’t it?

I can only assume that they are also going after manufacturers and sellers of parts designed for real firearms that the company has arbitrarily designated as “assault weapons” as well.

Update: Some on the 2nd Amendment Supporters page doubt that Amazon has such a policy, as they are able to find various products. Here’s a direct link to Amazon’s examples of prohibited listings.

• Assault weapon parts or accessories, or products marketed as assault weapon parts or accessories
• A part or combination of parts designed or intended to convert a firearm into an assault weapon
• Gun parts and accessories, other than the above permitted parts and accessories, such as:
  • Assault weapon conversion kits
  • Assault weapon grips and foregrips
  • Barrels
  • Barrel shrouds
  • Battery assist levers
  • Camouflaging gun containers
  • Chokes
  • Converters that can give a firearm automatic capability
  • Firing pins
  • Frames, such as components
  • Kits that can be used to create gun magazines
  • Magazine cinches or couplers
  • Magazines
  • Multi-burst trigger activators
  • Quad rails and covers
  • Receivers
  • Silencers
  • Solvent trap oil filter adapters
  • Telescoping, folding, or collapsible stocks
  • Threaded barrel adapters
  • Trigger assemblies

Rather obviously, the policy does exist and they are either selectively enforcing it, or are just beginning to remove these items.

You can see a screencap of the email from Amazon Services and a screen cap of the relevant section of the prohibited items list the  on the following page.

Amazon.com email to seller:

Relevant list of items that Amazon.com prohibits: