• Facebook banned private gun sales in 2016 but allows buyers and sellers on its platform 10 strikes before booting them off, per WaPo.

• The tech giant says nearly 90% of people who violate the policy don't get more than two strikes.

• The ease of buying a gun in the US is under heightened attention again following several mass shootings in recent weeks.

Facebook banned private gun sales six years ago, but it lets gun buyers and sellers violate the policy nearly a dozen times before it will give them the boot, according to a new report.

The company has a 10-strikes rule for users violating the ban on privately buying and selling guns, The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing internal documents it obtained. The policy is five strikes for gun buyers and sellers who "actively call for violence or praise a known dangerous organization," WaPo reported, citing the company documents.

Facebook banned private gun sales in 2016 amid mounting pressure from users, activist groups, and government officials and agencies.

Several mass shootings in recent weeks have put renewed attention on the ease of obtaining guns in the US. These include the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed. The 18-year-old gunman legally purchased two AR platform rifles at a licensed gun store days before the shooting.

Through a tiered penalty system, Facebook users face more severe consequences for violations as they accumulate more of them, but they can commit up to 10 violations of the ban before they're kicked off the platform, per WaPo.

Facebook's website says, for most violations, a first strike is met with a warning but no further restrictions. A second strike warrants a one-day restriction from making content, such as posts or comments; a third gets users a 3-day restriction; a fourth earns users a 7-day restriction; and five or more strikes kick off a 30-day restriction.

Facebook may remove an account after the fifth strike "depending on the severity and frequency of the violations," according to its website. It may also disable an account upon a first strike, depending on the offense. Andy Stone, policy communications director at Meta, Facebook's parent company, said in a tweet Thursday responding to The Washington Post's story that there are "instances where enforcement is one-and-done."