Anthony Comstock (/ˈkʌmstɒk, ˈkɒm-/; March 7, 1844 – September 21, 1915) was an American anti-vice activist, United States Postal Inspector, and secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV), who was dedicated to upholding Christian morality.

The terms comstockery and comstockism refer to his extensive censorship campaign of materials that he considered obscene, including birth control advertised or sent by mail.

Postal Service and the NYSSV (in association with the New York police) to make numerous arrests for obscenity and gambling.

[8] In 1873, Comstock created the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, an institution dedicated to moral supervision of the American public.

[6] Later that year, Comstock successfully influenced the United States Congress to pass the Comstock Laws, which made illegal the delivery by U.S. mail, or by other modes of transportation, of "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" material, as well as prohibiting any methods of production or publication of information pertaining to the procurement of abortion, the prevention of conception and the prevention of venereal disease.

[9] Some of Comstock's ideas of what were "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" could be seen by many modern Westerners as quite broad; during his time of greatest power, some anatomy textbooks were prohibited from being sent to medical students by the United States Postal Service.

[5][6] He was a savvy political insider in New York City and was made a special agent of the United States Postal Service with police-level powers, including the right to carry a weapon.

Motivated by first-hand experience with what he saw as a constant barrage of debauchery among fellow Union soldiers during the Civil War, when he gained power it was not long before Comstock aroused intense loathing from early civil liberties groups and strong support from church-based groups that were worried about public morals.

[6] Comstock, the self-styled "weeder in God's garden", arrested D. M. Bennett for publishing "An Open Letter to Jesus Christ" and later had the editor charged for mailing a free-love pamphlet.

[10] Anthony Comstock's enforcement of his namesake laws often led him into significant legal battles with various advocates of free expression.

For example, his prosecution of D. M. Bennett, the publisher of the freethought periodical The Truth Seeker, highlighted the contentious nature of the Comstock laws.

[6] Less fortunate was Ida Craddock, who died by suicide on the eve of reporting to federal prison for distributing via the U.S. mail various sexually explicit marriage manuals that she had written.

"[24] He is thought to be a major influence for the main antagonist of BioShock Infinite, Zachary Hale Comstock, as they share the same last names and have numerous ideological similarities.