Spotlight: The Firearms Training Industry
Whether it’s for improvement in marksmanship, tactical response, or self defense skills… training and education are critical parts of the firearms industry. Knowledgeable firearms instructors, and larger training businesses, have significant opportunities when it comes to selling courses and training.
In a world that unfortunately has far too many threats to the safety of individuals and families, self defense training offers a tremendous amount of appeal to both new and experienced gun owners. With first-time gun buyers rising to nearly 5 million in the most recent year according to the NSSF, the need for quality training has never been higher. This presents businesses built around firearms courses and training with tremendous opportunity.
Merchant Services for Firearms Training Businesses
If you legally operate a business that offers firearm courses, classes or training services, you may have been previously turned down for a merchant account from a mainstream bank or merchant services company.
Or worse, your firearms training business may have had its merchant account terminated with little or no previous notice.
Many banks and merchant services providers will not accept your business for one of two reasons:
- Firearm are highly regulated by the federal government, and therefore, additional underwriting is required by the credit card processor.
- Because firearms and the 2nd Amendment are a “hot button” political issue, many banks and merchant services companies have taken an “anti” 2nd Amendment stance, and refuse to work with firearm instructors, even if they are otherwise highly desirable clients.
Tactical Payments, by contrast, was founded with the exact mission to serve firearms industry businesses. We will offer you competitive pricing, easy integration, and friendly, USA-based customer support.
Firearms Training Service Merchant Account FAQs
The following are the most frequently asked questions we get from businesses interesting in being approved for a firearms training service merchant account from Tactical Payments.
What kinds of firearms training businesses do you accept as merchants?
Tactical Payments accepts a wide variety of businesses which provide firearms-related courses, classes and training. Merchants include licensed instructors providing CCW, CHL / LTC courses, as well as licensed instructors who provide training on gun safety, gun maintenance, marksmanship, sport shooting, and so on. All merchants which provide courses, class and training services must abide by all applicable Federal, State, and Local laws and regulations. Plus, for CCW / CHL / LTC or other training courses: Must have documented firearm instructor certification through the National Rifle Association, TCLEOSE, Security Officer training, or the military.
What criteria does my CCW / CHL / LTC training business need to meet, to approved for a merchant account by Tactical Payments?
To be approved for a merchant account by Tactical Payments, your training business must meet the following criteria: (a) your business must be located, and operate, solely within the United States of America (and the business owner must be a US citizen with a SSN); (b) you must be willing to provide the following documentation: (1) a voided business check or verified bank letter, (2) a valid government ID such as a driver’s license, (3) 3 months’ previous business bank statements, or personal bank statements if the business is a startup, and (4) 3 months’ previous credit card processing statements, if applicable.
ADDITIONALLY, for CCW / CHL / LTC or other training courses: Must have documented firearm instructor certification through the National Rifle Association, TCLEOSE, Security Officer training, or the military.
Is Tactical Payments compatible with my existing ecommerce or Point Of Sale (POS) software?
Training businesses typically have a preferred ecommerce or POS (Point Of Sale) software system they use. Because Tactical Payments works with most major payment gateways (including Authorize.net, USAePay and NMI), our merchant accounts integrate with most popular ecommerce and Point Of Sale systems. Tactical Payments is compatible with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Volusion, and many other ecommerce software packages, and is also compatible with GunBroker.com.