2nd Amendment Under Attack: Gun Manufacturer Targeted By Corporate America

Think the Second Amendment isn’t under attack? Think again.

My buddy Gary Ramey and his gun business are proof.

A couple of years ago, I got to tour Gary’s shop in Gainesville, Georgia. It’s called Honor Defense. And ironically, it’s playing defense right now and fighting for the honor of every gun owner.

Gary started the company on his own dime years ago, pledging to create guns here in American with 100 percent American parts and materials. They’re assembled by veterans and, like those veterans, they’re tough as hell and he puts a lifetime guarantee on them.

But what is no longer guaranteed is how he’ll be able to sell them.

Gary’s business exploded in retail stores after Gun Tests Magazine dropped an article saying his single stack 9mm was the best in the market, ranking the accuracy higher than the big boys like the Glock 43, S&W Shield and Walther PPQ. The explosion in sales after that article led to him deciding to start offering the gun for sale on his website.

But you know who was NOT happy about it? Ironically, the company that takes the money – his credit card processor.

“Stripe” is the required credit card processor when using a website builder from GoDaddy. But in August 2017, Stripe cancelled their online store, saying: “I wish we were able to continue offering services for your venture, unfortunately, our banking partners are very firm when it comes to what businesses we can and cannot work with.”

Of course it didn’t end there.

Honor Defense used “Intuit” (you’ll recognize them as QuickBooks) to manually enter a credit card when a dealer calls in an order.

Intuit lumped into the same category anyone who wanted to buy a t-shirt from Honor Defense.

Intuit dumped them as well, saying they “can’t see the purchaser.” Huh? That’s literally the point of the ability to keystroke a card over the phone.

Now before you go on your “background check” tirade … let’s clarify something.

Intuit lumped into the same category anyone who wanted to buy a t-shirt from Honor Defense.

And even if they didn’t, it’s a non-argument. A Federal Firearms Licensee can ONLY ship firearms to another FFL, who then does the background check and transfers the firearm.

Intuit’s comment?

It’s “not a value judgment regarding the underlying legitimate businesses themselves, but it derives from the relationships Intuit has with the card brands and banks.”

Do the math on this one, folks. Liberals are bypassing Congress and now doing everything in their power to infringe on the Second Amendment.

Don’t even get me started on the stupidity of calling AR’s “assault weapons.” It makes me want to “assault” my head against a brick wall.

Look no further than Bank of America and Citigroup. The two decided to restrict sales of firearms by its business customers by passing their own rules on lending to manufacturers and retailers … something that’s attracted the attention of Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, who is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

Then of course you have retailers like Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods imposing their own arbitrary age restrictions on gun purchases, which is actually in violation of some state laws. The two decided they would no longer sell “assault weapons” or firearms to people under age 21.

Don’t even get me started on the stupidity of calling AR’s “assault weapons.” It makes me want to “assault” my head against a brick wall.

Then of course you’ve got REI, an outdoor-gear shop that doesn’t sell guns. But they jumped on the bandwagon and decided it would stop selling products including ski goggles, water bottles and bike helmets made by companies whose parent firm, Vista Outdoor, manufactures ammunition and AR-style long guns.

Yup. Shake your head from side to side and say it with me in a slow release of air: “liberals.”

Ok, back to Ramey’s company getting screwed.

Ramey submitted a complaint with Georgia’s attorney general’s office. The state has a law that prohibits discrimination by financial service firms against the gun industry. But the state rejected it, saying that credit card processing is not considered a financial service under state law.

Banks have the benefit of being:

Federally chartered (taxpayers)

Federally insured (FDIC through taxpayers)

Receiving interest from a government bank (tax-payer funded)

Saved by a taxpayer funded bailout of $812,000,000,000

But now they are dictating social policy and targeting the Second Amendment through service providers.

And who does this hit, besides law abiding gun owners?

How about small businesses?

Small businesses need accounting software programs; big corporations … not so much.

Honor Defense, like many gun manufacturers, is small by comparison. In 2016, their first year, they sold 7,500 firearms. Although they’re now found in more than 1,000 stores, it’s still tough to compete against the big boys like Sig and Smith & Wesson.

Imagine for a second if Stripe stopped doing business with a company that prided itself on hiring gay men and women that made rainbow flags.

And imagine if this were the excuse:

“I wish we were able to continue offering services for your venture, unfortunately, our banking partners are very firm when it comes to what businesses we can and cannot work with.”

The left and the liberal media would have a meltdown. Heads would roll. The company would implode in days. Boycotts. Bans. Riots.

But when it happens to conservatives?

Silence.

And that, brothers and sisters, is why I need YOU to help share this right now.

The time to stand together is now … before it’s too late.

Kyle S. Reyes is the Chief Executive Officer of The Silent Partner Marketing, creator of The Whiskey Patriots and the National Spokesman for Law Enforcement Today. Reyes is also an acclaimed keynote speaker on patriotism and leadership, entrepreneurship and marketing by storytelling. You can follow him on Facebook.