Gun sellers have come out criticizing the government for what the merchants believe is an effort to stifle their businesses and kill the industry. The retailers claim that the Obama administration is steadily putting them out of business with investigations and regulations – some of which never even get to the floor of Congress. The constant credit account seizures, asset freezing, and prohibition of online discussions are, according to the retailers, a true sign that the government will stop at nothing to finish them off.
In the past four years, Federal regulators have become even more critical about bank’s customers. In a move believed to be targeted at particular industries, the firearms industry included, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2011 warned banks to better manage their customers to reduce risks associated with merchant consumers who paid transacted through payment processors such as PayPal. Gun retailers were actually listed as “high risk” along with paraphernalia stores and porn websites.
Later on, the Department of Justice launched “Operation Choke Point” which was a credit card probe targeting banks and payment processors. Owing to these many regulations and the heavy monitoring, some banks have since cut ties with online gun retailers. In some cases, even retailers with valid licenses and excellent credit ratings were rejected by the banks.
More recently, a Justice Department representative told news reporter that the agency was in the middle of several investigations aimed at identifying and holding accountable banks “who knowingly assist fraudulent merchants.” Since this came some time after gun retailers were labeled “high risk,” it is fairly certain that he was referring to the online gun retailers among other industries.
There have been several instances where banks literally stopped doing business with reputable gun companies out of fear of being victimized. For example, in 2012, the Bank of America, out of the blues, ended a 12-year contract with McMillan Group International – a widely recognized gun manufacturer in Phoenix. The company had done nothing wrong and had an excellent credit history, the owner said. But because the government has made it very difficult for banks to conduct meaningful business with gun retailers, these banks are left with no alternative but to walk away.
It could be even tougher going forward with every government agency working hard to choke gun retailers. Maybe an excellent alternative is for these retailers to open an online firearm merchant account with us, eMerchantBroker.com.