Payment Processing for Gun Stores and FFL Dealers
Quick answer: Gun stores and FFL dealers need a dedicated firearms merchant account from a processor that works with acquiring banks explicitly supporting the firearms industry. Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Shopify Payments all prohibit firearms. Unison provides stable merchant accounts for gun stores, ammunition retailers, and online firearms businesses with interchange-plus pricing and no anti-gun policies.
The firearms industry generates over $28 billion annually in the U.S., yet most gun stores struggle to find reliable payment processing. The problem is not legality — firearms are legal, regulated products. The problem is that mainstream payment processors have corporate policies against firearms, independent of the law.
Why Most Processors Reject Gun Stores
Stripe, Square, and PayPal prohibit firearms in their acceptable use policies. Even processors that initially approve gun stores sometimes terminate accounts months later when their risk teams discover the product category.
This happens because:
- Corporate policies override legality — these companies choose not to support firearms regardless of legal status
- MCC code scrutiny — firearms-related MCC codes (5941) trigger automatic reviews at some banks
- Political pressure — some acquiring banks face pressure from stakeholders to avoid firearms relationships
- Aggregator risk — aggregators can't individually underwrite firearms merchants, so they prohibit the category entirely
What You Need for Approval
Documentation:
- Current Federal Firearms License (FFL) — Type 01 (dealer) or Type 07 (manufacturer)
- State firearms dealer license (if required by your state)
- Business registration and EIN
- 3-6 months of bank statements
- Processing statements from previous processor (if applicable)
- Government-issued ID for all owners
Website requirements (for online sales):
- Age verification system
- FFL transfer policies clearly stated
- Shipping policy with restricted-state disclosures
- Compliance with state and federal advertising rules
- No private-party sales facilitation
Processing Options for Gun Stores
In-store retail: Clover POS or PAX terminals for card-present transactions at the lowest interchange rates. Gun stores with high average tickets ($300-1,500+) benefit significantly from interchange-plus pricing because per-transaction fees are proportionally small.
Online sales: Payment gateway integration with your eCommerce platform. If you use Shopify, you need a third-party gateway since Shopify Payments prohibits firearms.
Gun shows and events: Mobile terminals with cellular connectivity process card-present transactions at gun shows, ranges, and off-site events. Card-present rates are lower than online rates.
Layaway programs: Card-on-file tokenization allows you to charge stored payment tokens for layaway installments. ACH processing offers lower fees for high-ticket layaway programs.
Rates and Fees
| Transaction Type | Typical Range |
|---|---|
| Card-present (in-store) | 2.5-3.5% |
| Card-not-present (online) | 3.0-4.5% |
| ACH/eCheck | 0.5-1.5% |
| Gun show (mobile terminal) | 2.5-3.5% |
With interchange-plus, a $500 firearm purchase on a debit card might cost you $1.50-3.00 in processing fees, compared to $13.00+ on Square's flat rate. The savings add up fast at firearms price points.
Ammunition Sales Considerations
Ammo sales are processed under the same merchant account but have additional compliance requirements for online orders:
- Age verification at checkout (21+ for handgun ammo, 18+ for rifle/shotgun in most states)
- State-level shipping restrictions (some states restrict online ammo sales)
- Carrier compliance (carriers have their own ammunition shipping policies)
- Volume considerations — ammo orders tend to be heavy and require hazmat shipping
Contact Unison Payment Solutions for firearms payment processing, or apply for a gun store merchant account.