A financial giant blocked a Maryland gun shop from using its financial services after identifying it as participating in a “prohibited industry,” a debanking lawsuit claims. 
The lawsuit, filed by the Rockville-based United Gun Shop, accuses Capital One and Melio Payments of arbitrarily preventing it from using their payment services. The gun shop received messages in 2025 and 2026 suggesting the financial entities could not work with the firearms industry, emails viewed by The Daily Wire show.
The apparent debanking comes after the gun shop had previously used Capital One’s payment platform, administered by Melio Payments, for multiple business-related transactions and bill payments, according to the suit.
“As an American-owned small business operating legally, we were shocked when Capital One abruptly stopped processing our payments without any clear explanation and instead cited vague reasons tied to a third-party payment provider we never agreed to work with,&#8221; United Gun Shop owner Jonathan Bennett told The Daily Wire. &#8220;We filed this lawsuit to hold Capital One and its third-party partner accountable for what we believe is unfair discrimination against our company.”
The <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/1036217722/Filed-Melio-CapitalOne-COMPLAINT">lawsuit</a> accuses Capital One and Melio of blocking the gun shop from &#8220;making future payments&#8221; before later disabling them from completing payment transactions. 
“Defendants invoked generalized ‘prohibited industry’ and ‘restricted industry’ classifications after Plaintiff had already been onboarded into the Capital One-branded workflow and after some payments had already been processed,&#8221; the lawsuit said. 
The incidents caused the gun shop around $75,000 in damages and disrupted its business services, according to the suit.
Reached for comment, Melio said it did nothing wrong. “The claims have no merit, and we intend to vigorously defend them,&#8221; the company told The Daily Wire. It did not respond to follow up questions about specific communications to United Gun Shop. Capital One did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
Capital One previously <a href="https://www.americas1stfreedom.org/content/how-gun-companies-and-stores-are-pushing-back/">faced accusations</a> of politicized banking from the owner of a silencer company who testified that he was unable to use Capital One to sell federally regulated suppressors. Capital One says it does not make banking decisions based on politics. 
On April 11, 2025, a representative for United Gun Shop met with Capital One after “defendants canceled services without notice,” after the store had started to make bill payments with the banking giant&#8217;s platform, according to the lawsuit. A representative from Capital One informed United Gun Shop that it was not prohibited from banking and it had not violated any terms, the suit claims.
Yet three days later on April 14 the gun shop received a message from Melio Payments telling the company it belonged to a prohibited industry even though several payments had already been processed, according to a message viewed by The Daily Wire. 
“I understand that you are upset, and I know that some of your payments have processed, while others have not. There are times when we don’t catch it in time, but it appears that your account has been blocked from making future payments, as it appears to belong to one of our prohibited industries,” a message from Capital One Pay Business Bills said. 
“Per our agreement with our processing partners, we are unable to process payments in certain industries,” the message added. 
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1091127" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-07-at-12.25.56-PM.png" alt="" width="1356" height="675" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-07-at-12.25.56-PM.png 1356w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-07-at-12.25.56-PM-300x149.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-07-at-12.25.56-PM-1024x510.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-07-at-12.25.56-PM-768x382.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1356px) 100vw, 1356px" /></div>
United Gun Shop said it never agreed to Melio&#8217;s terms and only registered to use Capital One&#8217;s platform.
Exhibits attached to the suit showed successful payments being made with the platform starting in December 2024 before starting to fail in March 2025. 
A second written confirmation came on March 2026 when the gun shop received a message from Capital One Business saying that “our team wasn&#8217;t able to verify that your account and activity meet our eligibility criteria” and that “your account could not be approved and has been disabled from completing any transactions.”
One of the potential reasons suggested in the email why it was listed as ineligible was because &#8220;your business is considered a restricted industry.&#8221;
The suit said that message was the first “formal notice of non-approval for banking with Capital One” after “an informal deplatforming” and the meeting with Capital One in April 2025. 

Will Hild, the executive director of Consumers’ Research, said the messages appeared to show political discrimination. 
&#8220;Capital One got caught red-handed debanking a law-abiding American business and hiding behind a middleman to dodge responsibility,” he told The Daily Wire. “The lawsuit suggests a clear pattern. A legal firearms retailer was cut off for no reason, even after bank officials admitted no rules were broken.”
The suit accuses Capital One and Melio Payments of violating numerous Maryland business laws including the Maryland Consumer Protection Act, causing commercial disparagement, and breach of contract. 
The gun shop has faced legal challenges from the Democrat attorneys general of Maryland and District of Columbia over accusations that it knowingly allowed a gun trafficker to purchase handguns from its store. That case was later dismissed. 
Across the state and federal level, Republican officials have moved to implement protections from debanking following allegations that major banks worked with the Biden administration to snoop on Americans who purchased hunting gear or Bibles.
The Trump administration directed federal banking regulators in August 2025 to ensure policies are in place to prohibit politically motivated debanking and stipulate that banking decision are only made based on individual, objective, and risk-based objectives.

US-WEAPONS-STORE

READ IT: The Message A Financial Giant Sent To A Gun Shop After Blocking Payment Access

Banking

debanking

First Amendment

Gun Sales

Maryland

In movies like Enemy of the State, Americans are shown a dystopian world where government surveillance turns ordinary citizens into targets, with shadowy agencies tracking their every move without oversight or accountability. Sadly, this Hollywood nightmare is now reality.
During the Biden administration, federal agencies like the FBI were secretly monitoring law-abiding gun owners through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) — tracking their lawful firearm purchases without a warrant and without ever informing those being monitored. Even Congress was kept in the dark. What once seemed like fiction is now a troubling truth, as the federal government turns its surveillance powers inward against its own people, eroding the freedoms it was meant to protect.
For years, the FBI has been surveilling the gun purchases of thousands of law-abiding citizens using the NICS system. This daily NICS Monitoring program operates without the requirement of a warrant or probable cause, and entirely outside the purview of any court. It enables federal agents to select a target for surveillance and receive a notification every time the victim purchases a firearm. Surveilled Americans have no way of ever knowing they are being tracked.
None of this information is new. Gun Owners of America has reported on the FBI’s NICS Monitoring abuses <a href="https://www.ammoland.com/2024/12/foia-shows-the-extent-of-atf-monitoring-americans-through-fbis-nics-system/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at length</a>, and the FBI’s warrantless surveillance program has been the subject of a years-long Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) lawsuit pitting GOA against a <a href="https://www.gunowners.org/atf-attempts-to-silence-gun-owners-of-america/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">belligerent</a> and uncooperative Department of Justice.
<h3>Ongoing NICS Monitoring Abuses</h3>
Naturally, being free to operate entirely without legal standards or judicial oversight, federal agents have rampantly abused NICS Monitoring, surveilling individuals engaged in all manner of innocuous activities. Without any accountability, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) requested NICS Monitoring of individuals who purchased firearms in response to social unrest, those whose firearm expenditures appeared disproportionate to their income, and even persons who bought and sold firearms as a hobby.
During the Biden administration, federal agents even directed their surveillance toward ordinary Californians — like a modern-day Panopticon, where prison inmates can be secretly watched without knowing when. In a recent <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fbi-weaponizes-background-checks-enforce-california-gun-ban" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FOIA production</a>, GOA discovered that the FBI had been assisting in the enforcement of anti-gun states’ “assault weapons” bans. The FBI actually used NICS Monitoring on one individual for suspected violations of California’s unconstitutional gun regime — despite there being no evidence of any federal wrongdoing.
Thankfully, Pam Bondi’s DOJ recently <a href="https://x.com/GunOwners/status/1915855957927616648" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ordered the FBI</a> to end the Biden-era practice of using NICS monitoring to help enforce state gun laws. But who knows how long this practice has been occurring? Because with such a low bar for monitoring, perhaps you have also been NICS Monitored, maybe for nothing more than a Facebook comment or a bumper sticker, or attendance at a political rally. Of course, you would never know either way.
<h3>FBI Weaponization Against January 6 Protesters</h3>
Now, GOA has discovered that the FBI’s surveillance program goes further than previously thought. Recently obtained FOIA documents reveal the NICS Monitoring of a person suspected of being present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In fact, in one June 6, 2023 NICS Monitoring submission, an unnamed FBI agent requested NICS Monitoring of an individual’s lawful gun purchases for a period of six months, for several “violations or potential violations” that are common J6 charges:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">18 U.S.C. § 231(a)(3) &#8211; Civil Disorder; </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1) and (2) &#8211; Restricted Building or Grounds; </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(E) &#8211; Impeding Passage through the Capitol Grounds or Buildings.</li>
</ul>
Of course, this should come as no surprise. After all, the Biden-era FBI was no stranger to victimizing thousands of Trump supporters associated with January 6. On January 6 itself, the U.S. Capitol was crawling with <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/political/legal-scholar-raises-concerns-over-doj-hiding-fbi-informants-jan-6">FBI informants</a>, seemingly directed to frame those attending the President’s “Save America” rally.
In the days that followed, the FBI <a href="https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/540721-intercept-reporter-fbis-rapid-collection-of-phone-records-after-capitol-riot/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aggressively collected</a> cell phone data of those who had been present in Washington, DC, often without a warrant. The FBI even improperly <a href="https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-fbi-surveillance-75c466a64e838ab12eaef96f6335f3cd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accessed</a> information collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to target purely domestic persons and activities. And in the twilight hours of the Biden regime, the Department of Justice <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-searches-alleged-jan-6-rioters-home-ahead-donald-trumps-return-pre-rcna137787" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continued to raid</a> suspected January 6ers’ homes, with FBI operations extending well into December of 2024.
But now, the United States has a new Attorney General. And when Pam Bondi took her oath of office, she <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bondi-sworn-attorney-general-mission-end-weaponization-justice-department" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promised</a> to end the rampant “weaponization” of the FBI and to close Biden’s chapter of hyper-partisanship and two-tiered justice for good.
That promise will ring hollow if NICS Monitoring is not dismantled. So long as the mechanism remains in place to surveil gun owners’ lawful purchases — especially with no judicial approval or oversight — there is little stopping a future administration from resuming the abuses of Biden’s FBI.
What once seemed like the stuff of Hollywood thrillers has become a sobering fact of American life. The secret surveillance of lawful gun owners through NICS Monitoring is not just a bureaucratic overreach — it’s a direct assault on the freedoms that define our nation.
To restore trust in our institutions, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel must act swiftly to end warrantless spying on law-abiding gun owners. Americans should not have to live in fear that exercising their rights will land them on a secret government watchlist. We are not characters in a movie — we are citizens of a free republic, and it’s time our government remembered that.
* * *
Erich Pratt is the Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America, a national grassroots organization representing more than two million gun owners, and can be followed on X  <a href="https://twitter.com/erichmpratt">@erichmpratt.</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

U.S. Special Operations Command Host Hostage Rescue Demonstration In Tampa

Gun Owners Aren’t Criminals: It’s Time To Dismantle NICS Monitoring

Gun Laws

Guns

January 6

Opinion

Second Amendment

U.S. Capitol

There is no such thing as a free nation where the police and military are allowed to keep and bear arms and citizens are not. Our Founding Fathers understood this and enshrined the basic right to self-defense in the U.S. Constitution. The Second Amendment guarantees the absolute ability to live in peace without fear.
The U.S. Supreme Court has, time and again, reaffirmed that right. Yet elected Democrats and other stakeholders continue their all-out assault on this freedom with the ultimate goal of denying law-abiding Americans the opportunity to purchase and carry guns.
That’s why, in 2022, I became concerned when Visa and Mastercard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/visa-to-categorize-sales-at-gun-stores-in-win-for-gun-control-advocates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> they would separately categorize and track purchases for guns and ammunition. This move followed the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), an international standards organization based out of Europe, approving an application for a firearm-specific Merchant Category Code (MCC). This move would set a dangerous precedent targeting legal gun owners, the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vast majority</a> of whom are Republicans or independents who lean Right.
A specific MCC for gun purchases would subject Americans attempting to exercise their constitutional rights to unnecessary and unethical surveillance. If rolled out, a national gun registry would be closer than ever, even though it is <a href="https://www.nraila.org/get-the-facts/registration-licensing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prohibited</a> by federal law. The Left, however, does not care about the rule of law and they certainly aren’t hiding their desire to take away your freedoms. An elected Democrat recently <a href="https://vinnews.com/2024/07/09/rep-bonnie-watson-coleman-advocates-for-national-gun-registry-during-atf-debate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> a federal gun registry a “wonderful idea.”
A gun-specific MCC is a clear threat to the privacy and Second Amendment rights of all Americans. Not only does it present an easy opportunity for liberal institutions to de-bank firearms sellers, which is abruptly closing financial accounts for religious and political reasons, but it could also discourage Americans from exercising their Constitutionally-protected rights. Importantly, the MCC would do absolutely nothing to improve public safety.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-than-100-house-republicans-demand-answers-from-credit-card-giants-categorizing-sales-at-gun-stores" target="_blank" rel="noopener">application</a> for a gun- and ammo-specific MCC came from Amalgamated Bank in 2022, a <a href="https://amalgamatedbank.com/who-we-are" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blatantly Left-wing</a> company that dubs itself America’s “socially responsible bank” and proudly says deposited money supports “sustainable organizations, progressive causes, and social justice.” Upon further examination, it’s clear the organization is closely connected to the Democrat Party. The New York Times in 2015 even <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/07/how-amalgamated-bank-became-the-the-lefts-private-banker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> it “the left’s private banker.”
Clients of the union-owned bank <a href="https://amalgamatedbank.com/political-organizations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">include</a> President Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Nancy Pelosi. Additional past and present clients <a href="https://amalgamatedbank.com/clients" target="_blank" rel="noopener">include</a> the Democratic Governors Association, the Biden Foundation, the Democratic National Committee, and Ready for Hillary 2016. Not exactly ardent defenders of the Second Amendment.
Amalgamated has also explicitly <a href="https://amalgamatedbank.com/anti-violence-and-gun-safety" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called for</a> unconstitutional red-flag laws and says it discriminates against gun, nuclear weapon and ammunition manufacturers and distributors. Radical private organizations like this and the ISO should be nowhere near our Second Amendment.
At the time of the approval, Amalgamated Chief Executive Priscilla Sims Brown <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/10/business/gun-stores-merchant-code-visa-american-express-mastercard/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the move “answers the call of millions of Americans who want safety from gun violence.” Does this call supersede the constitutional right to keep and bear arms? As a state representative serving the people of Northwest Tennessee, I can tell you my constituents would say that coastal elites and liberal corporations better stay far away from their guns and finances.
That’s why I set out to ensure this gun tracking scheme would never happen in the Volunteer State. This year, I sponsored the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act, which was passed by the General Assembly and went into effect July 1. This new law will prohibit financial institutions from requiring retailers to use a specific MCC for firearms sellers in Tennessee.
Law-abiding Americans deserve to make these purchases without fear of liberal corporations and an overbearing federal government coordinating to spy on them. I was proud to provide that peace of mind to Tennesseans with the passage of this new law.
Just before the new law took effect, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti warned that Visa, Mastercard and American Express were potentially gearing up to ignore it.
“Specifically, I am concerned that your compliance efforts are not sufficient and will allow you and other financial institutions to continue to utilize impermissible codes in violation of Tennessee law,” he <a href="https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2024/pr24-53-letter.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a June letter to the chief executives of each company.
No credit card company should be able to cancel the votes of millions of Tennesseans by disobeying our policies.
We’ve already seen the Orwellian-like behavior from the Biden Administration and the private companies all too willing to hand over sensitive information. Earlier this year, the House Judiciary Committee <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/media/in-the-news/alarming-surveillance-feds-asked-banks-search-private-transactions-terms-maga" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> federal investigators had asked financial institutions to search customer transactions for various MCCs, stores and phrases, including Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops, Dicks Sporting Goods, and MAGA.
The goal? Rooting out alleged “extremism” following the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
If the federal government and private companies are already using banking information to target conservatives, ask yourself why they might want a separate MCC for firearms and ammunition sellers. It’s clear that in attempting to force these codes on Americans, they are also attempting to reshape what the Second Amendment means in our country.
Americans are tired of these people and groups pushing an agenda contrary to our founding ideals. I’m proud Tennessee has taken a stand against the ever-increasing leftist corporate-government alliance meant to intimidate and silence Christians and conservatives. It’s time every state stands with us.
* * *
Rusty Grills represents District 77 in the Tennessee House of Representatives. He is chair of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Biden Administration Cracks Down On Gun Dealers For Violations

Financial Surveillance: Why We Have To Prevent Liberal Organizations From Subverting The Second Amendment

finance

Gun Rights

Readers Pass

Tennessee

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers said Friday the agency intercepted a record number of firearms at airport security checkpoints this year, a nearly 10% increase over 2021’s record level.
Officials reported the agency stopped 6,301 firearms from crossing through secure areas of airports since the beginning of 2022 and anticipates detaining approximately 300 more before the new year. Of those firearms, more than 88% were loaded, the agency said.
The number of firearm interceptions surpassed the previous record of 5,972 firearms detected in 2021.
“I applaud the work of our Transportation Security Officers who do an excellent job of preventing firearms from getting into the secure area of airports, and onboard aircraft,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a<a href="https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2022/12/16/tsa-breaks-record-number-firearms-security-checkpoints-announces-new#:~:text=As%20of%20December%2016%2C%20TSA,5%2C972%20firearms%20detected%20in%202021"> news release.</a> “Firearms are prohibited in carry-on bags at the checkpoint and onboard aircraft.”
Although firearm possession laws vary by state and local government, passengers are prohibited from carrying guns in carry-on bags at any TSA security checkpoint, even if a passenger has a concealed weapon permit. However, the agency <a href="https://www.tsa.gov/travel/transporting-firearms-and-ammunition">says</a> passengers may travel with a firearm — but it must be unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container and transported as checked baggage only and declared each time they present it for transport as checked baggage.
The agency said that TSA had increased the maximum civil penalty for a firearms violation to $14,950 to reduce the threat of firearms at checkpoints.
“When a passenger brings a firearm to the checkpoint, this consumes significant security resources and poses a potential threat to transportation security, in addition to being very costly for the passenger,” Pekoske said.
According to the agency, TSA firearm catches have increased since 2010, rising from just 1,123. However, the number of interceptions dipped in 2020 by more than 1,000 amid the COVID pandemic, when the industry took a massive hit after non-essential air travel nearly came to a complete stop.
Sheldon H. Jacobson, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an expert on aviation security, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/us/tsa-firearms-record.html?smid=tw-nytimes&amp;smtyp=cur">The New York Times</a>, “the majority of people are not doing it with malicious intent.”
“They’re simply forgetting,” Dr. Jacobson said, adding the gun sales increasing nationwide among first-time gun buyers could explain the rise in interceptions.
Last year, the Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/29/us/gun-purchases-ownership-pandemic.html">reported</a> data from Northeastern University and the Harvard Injury Control Research Center that showed about a fifth of all Americans bought firearms for the first time, with about 39 percent of all American households owning guns.
Comparing the number of Americans owning a firearm from 2016, a General Social Survey, a public opinion poll conducted by a research center at the University of Chicago, showed that the number increased from 32 percent.
David Fitz, a spokesman for the TSA, told the Times that “the most common reason given by passengers bringing a firearm into a checkpoint is ‘I forgot it was in the bag’ or ‘Someone else packed my bag for me.’”
Fitz added that most “parts of the country where open carry and concealed weapons permits are higher” trend typically in Southern states.
The agency said although some airlines may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition, passengers traveling by air who wish to transport firearms must do so in checked baggage by following <a class="survey-processed" href="https://www.tsa.gov/travel/transporting-firearms-and-ammunition">proper packing guidance for firearms</a> in checked baggage.

Miami International Airport, prohibited items sign.

TSA Reports Record Number Of Gun Interceptions At U.S. Airports

Gun Interceptions At U.S. Airports Reach Record High, TSA Says

Air Travel

Left-wing activism on the part of corporations has hardly been unusual in recent years. What often flies under the radar, however, is how frequently progressive groups are able to strong-arm private businesses into entering the arena of politics against their will. Credit card companies being forced to track the sales of guns and ammunition is just such a situation.
After years of gun control measures failing at the ballot box and the Supreme Court, Amalgamated Bank — the largest union-owned bank in the country — hit upon a way to end-run around voters and the Constitution.
Billing the company as the nation’s most socially-responsible bank, its CEO Priscilla Sims Brown began lobbying the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to create a four-digit merchant code to track the sale of guns and ammunition purchased on credit. As a global standards body, the Geneva-based ISO has no authority to make laws or enforce regulations. But like many other American industries, the financial services sector willingly allows the group to set policies for their business.
When Brown first made her request to ISO in July 2021, arguing that it’s necessary to stop mass shootings and crack down on gun trafficking, the credit card companies pushed back. As part of an advisory committee on ISO’s decision, American Express argued that employing a specific merchant code in such a narrow retail category would be too difficult. &#8220;Managing long lists of narrowly defined MCCs can become burdensome if there isn&#8217;t a compelling reason for the long list,” Amex wrote. To the company&#8217;s point, while most retail items like groceries and other common goods have merchant codes, they tend to be broad. Before this, for instance, gun sales were simply classified under sporting goods.
MasterCard acknowledged to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bank-credit-cards-suspect-gun-ammo-sales/">CBS</a> at the time that the company “[believes] that it is the responsibility of elected officials to enact meaningful policies to address the issue of gun violence.&#8221; In other words, MasterCard felt the question of whether it is appropriate to track gun purchases properly belongs to the legislators, accountable to the will of the people, rather than an unelected global administrative state.
Amalgamated’s petition was denied.
Yet Brown wasn&#8217;t done. She appealed the decision in February, but was again denied because the code would only apply to small stores that specifically deal in firearms and ammunitions. It wouldn’t capture guns and ammunition purchases at general retailers like Walmart or big sporting goods chains like Dick&#8217;s, placing an undue burden on small venders.
Running a financial institution backed by the SEIU and Workers United, Brown is in a better position than most executives to understand how to ratchet up pressure to achieve desired political outcomes. She went back to ISO a third time after giving <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/06/business/dealbook/gun-violence-amalgamated-bank-code.html">numerous</a> <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bank-credit-cards-suspect-gun-ammo-sales/">media</a> <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2022/07/14/amalgamated-ceo-on-tackling-gun-reform-track-gun-purchases-through-merchant-codes.html">interviews</a> and soliciting support from the anti-Second-Amendment group, Guns Down America, as well as Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and around 40 Congressional Democrats, who sent a letter to the credit card companies urging them to back Brown’s request.
MasterCard and Visa once again made it clear that they did not back the measure, with Visa saying in a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/credit-card-sales-of-guns-and-ammo-merchant-codes/">response</a> to Democrats, “We believe that asking payment networks to serve as a moral authority by deciding which legal goods can or cannot be purchased sets a dangerous precedent.”
This time, however, the pleas of the financial services giants fell on deaf ears. On September 9, ISO agreed to create the new merchant category code.
The issues critics, including the credit card companies themselves, have brought up regarding the gun purchase code have not disappeared — only purchases at mom and pop gun dealers will be tracked and the Democratic process had no hand in the decision. Visa went so far as to post a statement to its web site on September 13, registering its disagreement with the decision. &#8220;It would be an invasion of consumers’ privacy for banks and payment networks to know each of our most personal purchasing habits. Visa is firmly against this,&#8221; it stated.
Yet the company, along with MasterCard, Amex, and Discovery, says it plans to abide by ISO’s ruling, though the body holds no power over them.
Republicans are beginning to mount a response to what they say could easily become a national gun registry.
“I mean, obviously, [the credit card companies] have been pressured to do this,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told The Daily Wire. “We do know that there have been Wall Street banks that have not been willing to provide financial services to people in the firearm industry — that is not anything new. That says to me, this is just one more data point in a direction of a lot of very powerful financial institutions wanting to do indirectly what elected Democrats have not been able to do directly, in terms of in terms of restricting the firearms industry.”
A group of 100 House Republicans, led by New York’s Elise Stefanik, have sent letters to Mastercard, American Express and Visa seeking information about their reported decision to begin implementing the tracking codes. &#8220;Of course, there is no accepted, consistent, scientific, or legitimate way to determine from this date what is and what is not a ‘suspicious’ purchase,&#8221; the letter read. &#8220;A gun control advocate could view any desire to own or obtain a firearm as per se suspicious. Instead, this is a transparent attempt to chill the exercise of constitutionally protected rights and to circumvent existing legal restrictions on the creation of firearm registries by the government.&#8221;
The NRA too, is pushing back, saying in a statement, “Implying that firearm purchases are suspicious demonstrates an obvious bias these attorneys general hold against choosing to exercise a fundamental constitutional right.”
What the history of corporate politics demonstrates, though, is just how difficult it is to get companies to reverse course, even when they’re headed in a direction they clearly don’t want to go.

Credit card detail photo focused on raised printed numbers

How The Left Is Forcing Credit Card Companies To Become Anti-Gun Activists

Banks

Leftists

Visa

Wall Street

More than 100 House Republicans are demanding answers from major credit card companies over the controversial decision to categorize <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/guns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gun</a> sales.
In <a href="https://stefanik.house.gov/_cache/files/3/2/327afb2a-664b-41dc-ba6c-ce0f93af68ad/B339C19813330E1FBB3AD3B51FA773F2.rep.-stefanik-letter-to-visa.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letters</a> to the CEOs of Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and House Republicans demanded the companies answer questions about their decision to adopt new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/visa-to-categorize-sales-at-gun-stores-in-win-for-gun-control-advocates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Merchant Category Codes</a> (MCCs) set by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that would categorize gun purchases separately from other purchases. The Republican members asked the creditors to provide their prospective standards to the public, and questioned whether categorizing gun purchases and flagging law enforcement was an attempt to skirt federal law by effectively creating a gun registry.
&#8220;As you know, the ISO uses four-digit codes known as MCCs to classify merchants and businesses by the type of goods or services provided,&#8221; the members began. &#8220;There were already two MCCs that captured legal firearm sales, 5999 for Miscellaneous Retail Stores and 5941 for Sporting Goods Stores.&#8221;
In July 2021, the left-wing activist banking firm Amalgamated Bank applied for the ISO to adopt a separate Category Code for firearm dealers. The ISO rejected the application in October, along with an appeal filed in November 2021, the Republican members noted. The ISO said at the time that such a narrow category would fail to capture gun sales at sporting goods stores and would place an undue burden on small firearm retailers.
Both Visa and American Express raised concerns about the effort to establish a firearm-specific MCC. &#8220;Specific MCC [codes] in narrow [retail] areas are challenging,&#8221; an employee from American Express told <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/credit-card-companies-gun-sales-congress-letters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CBS News</a> in September. &#8220;Managing long lists of narrowly defined MCCs can become burdensome if there isn&#8217;t a compelling reason for the long list.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/credit-card-sales-of-guns-and-ammo-merchant-codes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visa</a> also urged caution, warning against financial institutions acting as moral arbiters. &#8220;We believe that asking payment networks to serve as a moral authority by deciding which legal goods can or cannot be purchased sets a dangerous precedent,&#8221; the company wrote in a letter to Congressional Democrats who pushed for the credit card companies to adopt the new standard, via CBS.
Amalgamated Bank reapplied for the new MCC in June of this year. This time, the ISO relented, adopting the new MCC. Amalgamated Bank subsequently &#8220;stated its intent to utilize software to flag allegedly suspicious purchases made by Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights and file these red flags with law enforcement,&#8221; the lawmakers noted. &#8220;Of course, there is no accepted, consistent, scientific, or legitimate way to determine from this data what is and what is not a &#8216;suspicious&#8217; purchase. A gun control advocate could view any desire to own or obtain a firearm as per se suspicious. Instead, this is a transparent attempt to chill the exercise of constitutionally protected rights and to circumvent existing legal restrictions on the creation of firearm registries by the government.&#8221;
The lawmakers then asked the credit card giants to answer questions about their intentions in adopting the new standards:
<ul>
<li>Whether the companies actually support the ISO&#8217;s decision to create the new MCC, and if so, why the companies changed their view.</li>
<li>What criteria the companies will use to flag transactions for suspicious activity; how these criteria were devised, and what evidence there is to show that they will only focus on criminal intent and not on lawful purchases; and whether the companies will make these criteria public and share them with their cardholders.</li>
<li>How the companies will inform users about the impacts of implementing the policy; and whether they will notify and solicit feedback from customers.</li>
<li>Whether the companies will notify customers when their lawful transactions have been flagged and sent to law enforcement; if not, why they believe that it is not important to notify the customer.</li>
<li>Whether the companies have considered the &#8220;reputational risks and the possible implications for your 
fiduciary duties to shareholders&#8221; of potentially alienating a sizable number of the 100 million gun owners in the United States and the millions of prospective and potential gun buyers.</li>
<li>If the companies are aware this move could be perceived as an attempt to circumvent federal law by effectively creating a national firearm registry.</li>
<li>Whether the companies solicited input from the firearm industry before making this decision.</li>
<li>Whether the companies did their due diligence, including considering DOJ statistics, which show that a very small percentage of those who commit crimes with guns purchase them at gun stores subject to the new rules.</li>
</ul>
A total of 101 House Republicans signed the letter.

Elise Stefanik

Stefanik, More Than 100 House Republicans Demand Answers From Credit Card Giants Categorizing Sales At Gun Stores

Gun Control

House Republicans

A prominent gun control measure proposed by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers is unlikely to withstand judicial scrutiny, considering recent precedent.
Many of the perpetrators of recent mass shootings were below the age of 21, including the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-shooting-at-texas-elementary-school-leaves-at-least-15-dead">Uvalde</a>  and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/buffalo-mass-shooting-suspect-had-been-flagged-as-troubled-a-year-ago-report">Buffalo</a> shooters, aged 18, and the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-respond-shooting-parkland-florida-high-school-n848101">Parkland</a> shooter, aged 19.
<a href="https://www.atf.gov/firearms/qa/does-customer-have-be-certain-age-buy-firearms-or-ammunition-licensee">Federal law</a> already prohibits the sale of pistols to citizens under 21, but young adults can purchase rifles in <a href="https://www.thetrace.org/2022/05/uvalde-mass-shooting-ar15-age-restriction/">44 states</a> — and some are <a href="https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/5/25/23142050/hochul-raise-age-ar15-rifles-gun-control">calling for new legislation</a> that would change that.
Representative Adam Kinzinger <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-congressman-claims-raising-age-to-purchase-guns-to-21-is-a-no-brainer">called the proposed measure</a> a “no-brainer”, stating that. “We know that the human brain develops and matures a lot between the ages of 18 and 21. We just raised, without really so much as a blink, the age of purchasing cigarettes federally to 21.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger tells <a href="https://twitter.com/jonkarl?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jonkarl</a> that raising minimum age for gun purchases to 21 “is a no brainer&quot; to him.
“If you look at the Parkland shooting, you look at Buffalo, you look at this shooting, these are people under the age of 21.” <a href="https://t.co/Ndo3NsrFp7">https://t.co/Ndo3NsrFp7</a> <a href="https://t.co/mBpxDBiyJF">pic.twitter.com/mBpxDBiyJF</a>
&mdash; This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1530916688153169920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
However, earlier this month the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-11/federal-court-rules-california-ban-on-gun-sales-to-people-under-21-unconstitutional">struck down</a> a very similar restriction in California, which banned the sale of semi-automatic rifles to young adults, with the 2-1 majority <a href="https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/05/11/20-56174.pdf">arguing</a> that the policy constituted an arbitrary violation of the 2nd amendment rights of adult citizens.
“America would not exist without the heroism of the young adults who fought and died in our revolutionary army,” Judge Ryan D. Nelson wrote for the majority. “Today we reaffirm that our Constitution still protects the right that enabled their sacrifice: the right of young adults to keep and bear arms.”
With <a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/05/27/supreme-court-gun-control-massachusetts-impacts">consensus</a> on the bench shifting towards a broader defense of gun rights, age based restrictions on the right to purchase long guns seem unlikely to stand.
Adam Winkler, a law professor  commenting on the California case for the Los Angeles Times, called the 9th circuit’s ruling “ a harbinger of things to come,” stating that “In the coming years, the courts seem certain to strike down numerous gun safety measures in the name of the 2nd Amendment.”

Proposed Gun Sale Ban For Citizens Under 21 Unlikely To Withstand Judicial Review

California

Judicial Branch

Judiciary

Supreme Court

A federal court ruled that some California counties’ lockdowns of gun stores violated the Second Amendment.
In March 2020, both Los Angeles County and Ventura County <a href="https://californiaglobe.com/articles/appellate-court-rules-la-ventura-counties-violated-the-2nd-amendment-by-shutting-down-gun-stores-during-pandemic/">ordered</a> gun stores to close their doors to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, Judge Lawrence VanDyke — <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/firearmspolicycoalition/pages/5604/attachments/original/1642706843/McDougall_v_Ventura_County_Opinion.pdf?1642706843">writing</a> on behalf of a three-judge panel for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — explained that the policies limited “the right of the people to keep and bear arms,” since the Second Amendment “means nothing if the government can prohibit all persons from acquiring any firearm or ammunition.”
“Under California’s highly regulated framework for firearms, law-abiding citizens can only obtain firearms and ammunition by arriving in-person to government-approved gun and ammunition shops,” he wrote. “These blanket prohibitions on access and practice clearly burden conduct protected by the Second Amendment and fail under both strict and intermediate scrutiny.”
“The governments’ designation of ‘essential’ businesses and activities reflects a government-imposed devaluation of Second Amendment conduct in relation to various other non-Constitutionally protected activities during times of crises, irrespective of any of the unique dangers presented by firearms, ammunition, or firing ranges,” VanDyke added.
The <a href="https://www.nraila.org/articles/20220120/nra-wins-case-against-los-angeles-county">National Rifle Association</a> (NRA) lauded the ruling.
&#8220;The court today rightfully recognized that Los Angeles County violated Second Amendment rights when it shut down gun stores and ranges in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,&#8221; said NRA office of litigation counsel director Michael Jean. &#8220;This is an important decision. It ensures that California — or any state — cannot use a crisis to trample on the Constitutional rights of citizens.&#8221;
Beyond the Second Amendment, Los Angeles County cracked down on First Amendment rights through its lockdown policies — namely, by stopping church communities from meeting together. However, Pastor John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church eventually defied the regulations, meeting for Sunday worship without social distancing or mandatory masking.
“In response to the recent state order requiring churches in California to limit or suspend all meetings indefinitely,” MacArthur <a href="https://www.gracechurch.org/news/posts/1988">wrote</a> in the summer of 2020, “we, the pastors and elders of Grace Community Church, respectfully inform our civic leaders that they have exceeded their legitimate jurisdiction, and faithfulness to Christ prohibits us from observing the restrictions they want to impose on our corporate worship services.”
In the fall of 2021, Grace Community Church <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/l-a-county-to-pay-400000-to-john-macarthurs-grace-community-church">won</a> a $400,000 settlement from Los Angeles County following the Supreme Court’s ruling that some COVID-19 regulations could not apply to houses of worship. The state of California paid the church $400,000 as well, bringing the total to $800,000.
“We know that there is no circumstance that can cause the church to close,” MacArthur said in a letter. “The church is not only a building but is the bride of Christ and exists to proclaim the truth.”
“We are very pleased to see Pastor MacArthur and Grace Community Church’s First Amendment protections fully vindicated in this case,” said Jenna Ellis and Charles LiMandri of the Thomas More Society, which represented Grace Community Church. It has been a hard-fought battle to preserve religious liberty and we hope that this result will encourage Californians, and all Americans, to continue to stand that the church is essential.”

President Biden Announces Regulation Of “Ghost Guns,” Updates Background Checks

Federal Court Rules California Counties’ Lockdown Of Gun Stores Were Unconstitutional

Los Angeles County

Leaders in the firearm industry see no end in sight for the nationwide ammunition shortage.
Two executives — Mark Smith, CEO of firearms manufacturer Smith &amp; Wesson, and Rob Southwick, president of outdoor recreation statistics firm Southwick Associates — <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/ammo-shortage-shows-no-sign-improving-smith-wesson">told</a> Fox Business that demand for firearms remains high.
&#8220;It&#8217;s widely known the ammunition shortages continue,&#8221; explained Smith. &#8220;There is still a lot of interest in firearms.&#8221;
&#8220;At some point, demand will certainly soften,&#8221; added Southwick. &#8220;However, frenzied purchasing and empty shelves often fuels further increases in demand. We do not see demand softening in the near future.&#8221;
Data show that Americans are purchasing firearms at record levels.
According to a National Shooting Sports Foundation <a href="https://www.nssf.org/articles/taking-stock-of-record-setting-2020-firearm-year/">report</a> released in January:
<blockquote>Twenty-one million background checks were conducted for the sale of a firearm over the past 12 months. That topped 2019’s totals of 13.2 million by 60 percent. It also shattered the previous record from 2016, when 15.7 million background checks were conducted for the sale of firearms. This year’s 21 million total surpassed 2016 by 5.3 million, or 34 percent… NSSF estimates that 8.4 million people bought a firearm for the first time in 2020. That’s 40 percent of all purchases. </blockquote>
The group noted that the firearms market is becoming “increasingly diverse.”
&#8220;Forty percent of 2020’s buyers were women and the biggest increase of any demographic category was among African Americans, who bought guns at a rate 58 percent greater than in 2019.&#8221;
The ammunition and firearm shortages occur amid a recovering consumer economy in the United States, a crime wave that began after the death of George Floyd, and a series of promises from President Biden to more harshly restrict gun purchases.
For instance, a statement from the White House released in April <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/07/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-initial-actions-to-address-the-gun-violence-public-health-epidemic/">reads</a>:
<blockquote>President Biden is reiterating his call for Congress to pass legislation to reduce gun violence. Last month, a bipartisan coalition in the House passed two bills to close loopholes in the gun background check system. Congress should close those loopholes and go further, including by closing “boyfriend” and stalking loopholes that currently allow people found by the courts to be abusers to possess firearms, banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines, repealing gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability, and investing in evidence-based community violence interventions. Congress should also pass an appropriate national “red flag” law, as well as legislation incentivizing states to pass “red flag” laws of their own.</blockquote>
President Biden also nominated <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/5-things-gun-owners-need-to-know-about-bidens-new-gun-control-czar">David Chipman</a> — a gun control lobbyist who spent nearly three decades working for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms — to lead the agency.
During his confirmation <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-bidens-atf-pick-provides-his-definition-of-an-assault-weapon-his-proposed-ban-would-outlaw-most-rifles-in-america">hearing</a>, Chipman seemed to define an “assault weapon” as “a semi-automatic rifle capable of accepting a detachable magazine with a round greater than a .22 caliber.” As Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) replied: “I’m amazed that might be the definition of an ‘assault weapon.’ That would basically cover every single modern sporting rifle in America today.”

Increased Demand For Guns And Ammunition, Leads To Nationwide Ammo Shortage

‘We Do Not See Demand Softening In The Near Future’: Smith & Wesson CEO Says Ammo Shortages Will Continue

Background checks for gun sales soared to an all-time record in March, reportedly spurred on by President Joe Biden&#8217;s threats to increase federal gun regulations, and by a wave of $1400 COVID-19 stimulus checks.
<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-04-01/firearm-background-checks-soar-to-record-high-in-march">U.S. News and World Report noted Thursday</a> that the FBI reported a record number of gun background checks in March. The bureau &#8220;conducted nearly 4.7 million background checks, breaking the record high that was just set in January, another month that was marked with violence and turmoil.&#8221;
&#8220;March&#8217;s background checks represent a 36% increase from February, which saw about 3.44 million checks. Additionally, nearly 1 million more background checks took place last month than in March 2020,&#8221; the outlet added.
Although it is not clear whether every background check resulted in a gun purchase &#8212; each individual sale is governed by varying state laws, and many buyers may not pass the FBI investigation &#8212; an increase in the number of background checks does appear to correlate with an increase in the number of gun sales, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/biden-stimulus-checks-spark-historic-surge-in-gun-sales-especially-ar-15s">according to the Washington Examiner</a>, citing gun retailer groups.
&#8220;After the FBI release, for example, Small Arms Analytics &amp; Forecasting reported that sales are set to break the yearly record of 22.8 million in 2021. &#8216;For the first quarter of 2021 as a whole, about 5.9 million firearms were sold as opposed to 5.2 million in the first quarter of 2020. If this rate of sales were to be sustained throughout 2021, last year’s record sales of 22.8 million would be broken,'&#8221; one group noted to the Examiner.
The increase in the number of background checks also seems to correlate with the threat of increased gun regulation, and in March, the number of gun background checks spiked following two reported mass shootings, both of which were followed by an increase in gun control rhetoric from the White House.
&#8220;Of the top 10 days for most background checks, six were in March 2021, according to FBI data, including the top three days,&#8221; US News reported. &#8220;Following deadly mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder, Colorado, gun sales soared and five of the top days occurred following either one or both shootings.&#8221;
&#8220;In addition to mass shootings, gun-control legislation can also be a driver of gun sales and House Democrats on March 11 passed a pair of gun-control bills that would expand background check requirements on all gun sales and transfers,&#8221; the outlet noted.
Indeed, President Joe Biden is expected to announce gun control executive orders on Thursday that will expand federal background checks, outlaw sales of &#8220;ghost guns&#8221; &#8212; homemade, often 3D printed firearms, without serial numbers &#8212; and implement so-called &#8220;red flag&#8221; provisions, controversial rules that limit gun sales to people who have a record of being treated for mental illness.
The Biden administration has, as of yet, refused to commit to stricter regulations on so-called &#8220;assault&#8221; weapons and high-capacity magazines, noting in previous interactions with the media that those restrictions must be passed by Congress.
The Washington Examiner also noted that the Biden administration may have inadvertently spurred the increase in gun sales by passing a coronavirus relief bill that issued $1400 stimulus checks to most American taxpayers.
“There are obvious factors at play here: Biden’s gun rhetoric being No. 1, as well as two mass shootings that were heavily covered in the media. However, we also saw a lot of transactions of around $1,400 starting on March 17, so it appears many people are using their stimulus money to buy guns,” one gun retailer told the examiner.

AR15

Firearm Background Checks Soar To Record High In March Ahead Of Biden Gun Control Push

More guns were purchased in 2020 than at any other point in American history, with Americans buying more than 16.5 million guns, 1.6 million more than they purchased in 2016, the last record year.
The Washington Free Beacon’s Stephen Gutowski <a href="https://freebeacon.com/2020-election/2020-sets-all-time-gun-sales-record/">reported</a> that the figures related to gun sales through the month of October, meaning the total number is likely to be higher after an additional two months. Gutowski analyzed FBI data and found that four million more guns were sold in 2020 than in 2019, an increase of more than 33%.
“The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the gun industry&#8217;s trade group, also estimated nearly seven million people purchased a gun for the first time between January and October,” Gutowski reported. “The record sales come during a year in which Americans have faced a pandemic, economic downturn, prisoner releases, racial tension, and rioting. Those factors, as well as a contentious presidential election, have driven sales throughout the year, according to industry experts. And those gun sales—especially to new owners—are now likely to drive votes.”
NSSF spokesman Mark Oliva told the outlet: &#8220;This much is clear as we head into Election Day: Americans of all political persuasions are exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and doing so in record numbers.&#8221;
&#8220;It cannot be discounted that today&#8217;s gun buyers are faced with polar opposites of presidential candidates when it comes to protecting Second Amendment rights,&#8221; Oliva said. &#8220;President Donald Trump vowed to safeguard this right and former vice president Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, have both embraced outright confiscation of lawfully owned firearms as the headliner of the most far-reaching gun-control agenda to be presented to the American voter.&#8221;
Oliva also told the Free Beacon that October 2020 had the highest sales of any October on record and that he viewed the increase in sales was due to Americans disapproving of national gun-control messages and policies.
&#8220;America is watching and is already voting with their wallets when it comes to lawful firearm ownership,&#8221; Oliva told the outlet. &#8220;This has been a sustained period of firearm sales since March. This is clearly not a one-off event.&#8221;
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/health-care-workers-made-up-majority-of-people-who-purchased-guns-during-coronavirus-pandemic-study-says">reported</a>, health care workers surprisingly made up the majority of people who purchased firearms during the coronavirus pandemic.
A <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/emp2.12293">study</a> from New Mexico State University and the University of Toledo found that 67% of people who said they bought a gun during the coronavirus pandemic worked in the health care industry. In the first few weeks of the pandemic, the researchers found, working as a health care professional was a strong predictor of firearm purchasing.
In addition to gun sales, permits for concealed carry have also soared in 2020, with women and minorities leading the increase, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/women-minorities-leading-increase-in-conceal-carry-permits">reported</a>. “There were 2.7 million concealed handgun permit holders in 1999, 4.6 million in 2007, 8 million in 2011, 11.1 million in 2014, and now 19.48 million in 2020,” said a report from John Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center.

Guns on rack in store

Gun Sales In 2020 Set New Record

Remington Arms Company has filed for bankruptcy for the second time in over two years.
The gun manufacturer, one of the oldest in the United States, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday as it struggled under a mountain of high-interest debt and legal fees, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/remington-arms-declares-bankruptcy-despite-surging-gun-demand-11595903187">The Wall Street Journal</a>. The filing comes as gun sales are surging across the United States in a market driven by the pandemic and violent protests.
Remington has faced steep financial challenges for nearly a decade following a lawsuit by family members of victims killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The gunman used a Remington gun, the Bushmaster, to kill 20 children and six adults.
Gun-control activists used the tragedy to pressure Remington’s investors as well as stores that carry Remington products to cut ties with the company. The pressure campaign worked to some extent, forcing the gun company to take out high-interest loans to buy out investors. At the same time, the company borrowed to cover mounting legal fees as the shooting victims’ families attempted to hold the company accountable for the gunman’s actions.
In 2018, Remington filed for bankruptcy and restructured, transferring most of its ownership over to its creditors, including Franklin Templeton Investments and JPMorgan Asset Management, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/business/remington-bankruptcy-guns.html">The New York Times</a>.
In March of last year, the Connecticut Supreme Court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/families-sandy-hook-victims-allowed-sue-ar-15-amanda-prestigiacomo">ruled</a> that the lawsuit over the Sandy Hook mass shooting could move forward, a blow to the company.
The plaintiffs argued that Remington’s marketing for the Bushmaster, an AR-15-style rifle played a role in the shooter&#8217;s choice of weapon. The gun company argued that federal law protects it from liability should its products be used to commit criminal acts such as in the case of Sandy Hook.
UCLA law professor Adam Winkler told the NYT that the gun company’s financial troubles are almost entirely due to its poor management and legal troubles, and the company’s failure is not likely to be repeated throughout the industry.
“Remington’s problem is mostly a problem of Remington mismanagement and not a reflection of larger trends in the gun world,” Winkler said. “I don’t think we’re going to see a whole bunch of gun companies going under now.”
In June, gun sales at retailers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/in-wake-of-protests-gun-sales-so-high-retailers-running-out-of-guns-and-ammo-report-says">surged</a> over 145% from June 2019, according to a study by Small Arms Analytics &amp; Forecasting. The spike in sales came after the outbreak of violent protests and riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Floyd, a black man, died in police custody after an officer kneeled on his neck for close to nine minutes.
The June spike followed similar <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gun-sales-in-may-hit-record-again">surges</a> in demand in May and April after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and forced government shutdowns of wide swaths of the economy. National Shooting Sports Foundation spokesman Mark Oliva said the high demand is being driven by widespread “uncertainty.”
“This shows us there is continued appetite among Americans to be able to provide for their own safety during times of uncertainty,” Oliva said. “These are buyers who have witnessed their government&#8217;s empty prisons … Police departments are stretched beyond capacity in many cases. Law-abiding Americans recognize this and exercising their right to own a gun and defend themselves and their loved ones.”

Remington shotguns

Major U.S. Gun Maker Files For Bankruptcy

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