Big Banks are watching your gun purchases?! | #18 2A Commerce

Banks and card networks now have a way to flag who is buying from a gun store. In episode 18 of State of the Second, hosts John and Kaylee sit down with Greg from 2A Commerce to walk through how that happens and what it means for gun owners and gun businesses. Greg traces the pressure back to Operation Choke Point under the Obama administration, when banks began reclassifying firearm transactions as high risk and cutting off processing. The newer threat is the firearms-specific MCC, the merchant category code the card brands rolled out, which Greg explains effectively creates a private gun buyer list. The networks still cannot see exactly what you bought, but they can see that you spent a large amount at a gun store, and the probability says it was a firearm. From there the conversation moves into the daily reality of running a firearms business online. Greg's company is platform agnostic and builds custom e-commerce, payment processing, and inventory integrations for the gun space. He explains why search engine optimization matters so much when Google AdWords, Facebook, and Instagram block firearms advertising, why most SEO firms do not understand the industry's vernacular, and how a new banking survey for FFLs lands on underwriters who often do not understand or do not like firearms. He also covers the crypto payment gateway his team built using USDC, the SEC lawsuit that stalled it, and why crypto's pseudo-anonymous nature protects buyer privacy. On the marketing side he ties together content, email, social, search, and affiliate marketing into one connected customer journey. The back half turns to action. Greg argues the real fix is not reacting to each new rule but building an alternate banking infrastructure that does not depend on the federal government, the same bet he and his partner made entering the gun space in 2019. Kaylee frames the gun owner's leverage as three votes: the ballot box, the dollar, and the feet, and points to the Second Amendment sanctuary movement and Second Amendment Preservation Acts spreading from Virginia outward as proof the groundswell works. John closes with a challenge: take a new person to the range on the second of every month. Greg plugs 2A Commerce and his tacticalfresh.com marketing platform, and invites anyone serious about building the alternative to reach out. Links 2acommerce.com Questions this episode answers How are banks and card networks able to track who is buying from a gun store? Banks and card networks cannot see the specific item purchased, but they can see a large charge at a gun store and infer it was likely a firearm. Combined with the firearms merchant category code, this effectively flags who is buying from gun retailers. What is the firearms MCC code and why does it matter for gun buyer privacy? The firearms merchant category code (MCC) is a designation the card brands rolled out for gun-store transactions. Greg explains it effectively creates a private gun buyer list, since processors can identify spending at firearms retailers even without seeing the exact product. Where did banking pressure on the firearms industry start? Greg traces it to Operation Choke Point under the Obama administration, when banks began reclassifying firearm transactions as high risk and cutting off payment processing for gun businesses. Why does SEO matter so much for gun businesses when advertising platforms block them? Google AdWords, Facebook, and Instagram block firearms advertising, so search engine optimization becomes one of the few ways gun businesses get found. Greg notes most SEO firms struggle here because they do not understand the industry's vernacular. How does crypto payment using USDC protect a firearm buyer's information? Greg's team built a crypto payment gateway on USDC whose pseudo-anonymous nature shields buyer privacy, keeping purchases off the bank-and-card-network tracking system. He notes an SEC lawsuit stalled the project. How should a firearms company connect content, email, social, search, and affiliate marketing? Greg ties content, email, social, search, and affiliate marketing into one connected customer journey rather than treating them as separate tactics, so each channel feeds the same path to purchase. What can an individual gun owner actually do to push back beyond voting at the ballot box? Co-host Kaylee frames the gun owner's leverage as three votes: the ballot box, the dollar, and the feet. Beyond voting, owners can spend with pro-gun businesses and take a new person to the range, which host John challenges listeners to do on the second of every month. How did the Second Amendment sanctuary movement lead to Second Amendment Preservation Acts? Kaylee points to the Second Amendment sanctuary movement and Second Amendment Preservation Acts spreading from Virginia outward as proof a grassroots groundswell works to push back on restrictive gun laws. Chapters 00:00 — Meet Greg and 2A Commerce 00:58 — What makes 2A Commerce different 01:41 — Why they entered the gun space in 2019 03:50 — Why SEO matters when ads are blocked 08:09 — The attack on banking and gun owner privacy 09:06 — Operation Choke Point and the gun-store MCC code 11:12 — The new FFL banking survey and underwriters 13:19 — Fraud holds, chargebacks, and who the card serves 17:46 — Building a USDC crypto payment gateway 19:58 — Security, WordPress, and crypto privacy 23:35 — Connecting content, email, social, search, and affiliate 34:08 — Vetting vendors and refusing the enemy 37:09 — Preparing for political attacks by building the alternative 41:58 — Three votes: ballot box, dollar, and feet 53:36 — Sanctuary movement and Second Amendment Preservation Acts 1:02:38 — Take a new shooter to the range 1:06:24 — Where to find 2A Commerce About the guest Greg is a co-founder of 2A Commerce, a firearms-industry technology and marketing company that builds custom e-commerce, payment processing, and point-of-sale and inventory integrations. He has been developing software for about 20 years after leaving the Navy, and he is a Navy submarine veteran who grew up with guns. He holds an MBA in marketing. He and his business partner entered the gun space in 2019 after Shopify shut down a legal firearms store. He lives in St. Johns County, Florida, a Second Amendment sanctuary county. He also runs a marketing platform called tacticalfresh.com. Key quotes "So by creating this, what the banks have effectively done is they have made a way to create a private gun buyer list." — Greg "The cards work for the cardholder, they don't work for the merchant." — Greg "We entered it because we wanted to create a space where nobody would get shut down, nobody would lose their payment services, nobody would lose their server hosting." — Greg "We will work with the customer to identify which one of those systems makes the most sense for them based on their current operations." — Greg "On the flip side of that, you have a second vote and that vote is with your dollar." — Kaylee "The way that we prepare for it is by building the alternative." — Greg "It is our job as gun owners, it is our personal responsibility as gun owners to stay informed, stay educated and stay active." — Kaylee "You don't have to have a platform. You don't have to be an influencer to influence people." — Kaylee