Shopify the Latest Brand to Make Trouble for Gun Retailers

By Ready to Fire News On Sep 24, 2018

It’s unfortunate today that every business leader feels as though they need to make a judgment call about how others are earning their money.

Shopify is only the latest in a long string of corporate entities that have declared war on law-abiding firearm businesses. The CEO of Shopify is essentially attempting to delete free speech, as they ban certain merchants from offering their products to sale to the public through its online stores. This, on top of Intuit’s recent decision to ban credit card transactions for gun purchases, is the latest in the troubling news of brands who are attempting to make trouble for gun retailers.

Shopify is a Canadian-based entity which operates online commerce platforms for thousands of businesses in Canada, the U.S. and beyond. They only provide the backbone of the online operations, and do not offer drop shipping. They also offer point-of-sale systems, allowing business to integrate their in-person and online sales seamlessly. Their all-inclusive platform also includes social media, blogging, inventory and payment management and more. Merchants are able to design their site, market their goods and sell their products globally through the Shopify platform.

The company recently deleted the account of a pioneer in the 3D weapons industry, Cody Wilson. What’s worse, is that the eCommerce platform did not even give Mr. Wilson advance notice or any type of explanation for their actions. They then revised their online Terms of Service to block users from selling automatic rifles or any type of firearm with more than a 10 round capacity. Unfortunately, this limits users from selling nearly every type of modern firearm, including pistols.

This was only the beginning of Shopify’s attack on gun sellers, however. Within a few days, multiple major gun sellers received notices of the impending termination of their accounts. There is no recourse from Shopify on how these individuals will be able to re-launch their eCommerce sites, or even rebuild their inventory levels and purchase processing activity.

Aside from having to rebuild their commerce websites and infrastructure from the ground up, gun shop owners are losing business each day they’re not able to accept orders, bill accounts or ship products. The cost of the policy shift by Shopify has caused many other Shopify users to re-evaluate whether or not they want to continue using their platform in the future. This is likely to have a long-term effect on Shopify’s sales as America’s Second Amendment contingency is unlikely to take kindly to the negative impact on their favorite stores — especially the way that it was executed without warning. This doesn’t take into account the tens of thousands of dollars that are often put into modifying a Shopify web store or other eCommerce platform by each business owner.

The recent activity by Shopify is simply the latest unprecedented attack by misguided organizations as they attempt to push their liberal mindset onto the minds of Americans. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that Shopify will be the last business to make this type of shift.

~ Ready to Fire News