Gun TV, a first-of-its-kind home shopping network, stopped broadcasting and has halted sales less than a year after it launched, USA Today reports. The network was the brainchild of Valerie Castle and Doug Bornstein of Rancho Mirage, Ca., veterans of the home shopping industry. The channel, billed as an iTunes for guns, also sold ammo, holsters and firearm accessories on Verizon Fios and dozens of other smaller cable television operators. Castle said Gun TV was “pulling back on operations” while it looks at distribution options. Television broadcasts stopped earlier this week; all of the website’s pages go to this message: “Gun TV is presently off the air and is not currently accepting new orders.” She said, “This is a simple business decision. We are confident we will be broadcasting again soon.”
The channel broadcast from a 7,500-square-foot studio formerly known as the Palm Springs Film Factory. The closure of Gun TV is not surprising, considering the fledgling home shopping network had been troubled since before aired. Gun TV was envisioned as a 24-hour channel but launched with six hours of programming from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Pacific Time. The channel faced a lukewarm welcome in a nation where gun-law reform advocates argue people already have too many guns, not too few. In response, Gun TV promised to focus on safety. The channel dubbed itself a production of The Social Responsibility Network, which calls itself the social messaging arm of Gun TV. The channel pledged that 3 minutes of every hour would be dedicated to firearm education and safety training.