The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the gun industry’s trade association, is urging Congress to take action after multiple firearms-related businesses had their credit card processing company, Intuit, reverse credit card charges for goods and services that were already rendered.
A few weeks ago, Gunsite Academy, one of the top firearms training facilities in the nation, had tens of thousands of credit card sales reversed by Intuit. The reason? Gunsite sells firearms and Intuit doesn't believe the sale is happening "face-to-face," which is a violation of the credit card processing company's policies.
Gunsite's Chief Operating Officer Ken Campbell told Townhall Intuit was professional and made the effort to reach out to them to to get a better understanding of the firearms industry. It was at that point that Campbell explained how firearms are purchased by shipping the firearm to a local federal firearms licensee who runs a required background check through NICS.
The training company spent countless man hours contact customers, explaining the situation to them and receiving a new form of payment. Intuit finally decided to remedy the situation.
"Gunsite appreciates the remuneration made by Intuit to help defray our costs and more importantly we hope that the experience will help them better understand the firearms industry and how sales are made," the training facility said in a statement. "The firearms industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries and the customer base must follow stringent federal and state regulations as all retail transactions are face-to-face, including a mandatory Federal NICS background check."
Campbell says he believes the free market is playing a vital role in this situation, especially after the shooting in Parkland, Florida.
"The market is having a significant impact on them [Intuit] between the media bias and anti-gun crowd targeting the industry," Campbell told Townhall.
Gun manufacturer Honor Defense, based out of Georgia, had a similar experience with Intuit, the New York Post reported.
Now, the NSSF wants the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affair to investigate credit card processing companies.
"We are currently urging congress to hold a hearing(s) to explore the pattern of discrimination and corporate virtue signaling by these businesses that harm federally licensed small business while doing nothing to make our communities safer," Keane told Townhall.
What's discovered during the investigative hearings will dictate how the NSSF and others in the firearms industry respond.