Double Reed Outdoors Blog Wells Fargo Doubles Down AGAINST the Second Ammendment

As an eCommerce store I've used Stripe for many years now to process my credit card transactions, that is, until recently. I got a notice from them that they will no longer be able to process my credit card transactions due to contractual obligations with their "financial partners." Here's the email chain with anonymity of the employee's name. I have to admit that the Stripe representatives remained professional throughout the entire conversation. I understand contractual obligations, however they do have the option to change financial partners.___Stripe: (Which I did not see until after the fact.)"Hi Double Reed Outdoors,Thanks for using Stripe.While we hate to give you anything less than a great experience, it does seem that your business is in violation of the Stripe Services Agreement, section A.7.b ("Prohibited Businesses and Activities"). Specifically, we are unable to accept payments for weapons and ammunition as mentioned here: https://stripe.com/prohibited-businesses.These regulations are firm, so we sadly have no flexibility with them. That said, we understand that there may be some work involved with moving your business away from Stripe, and we're happy to help out with this process by giving you 14 days to switch to a new provider. After that, you won't be able to accept additional charges on your account, but we will continue sending payouts to your bank account until you receive all of your funds[1&91;.If you need an alternative payment processor, we recommend considering PaymentCloud, which works with businesses with a higher level of risk than we're able to support: https://paymentcloudinc.com/stripe.We're very sorry that we have to turn away your business, and we wish you the best of luck moving forward.Best,(Redacted)"___Stripe:"This is just a reminder that you will no longer be able to accept payments through Stripe beginning 5/23/2018.Once again, we are sorry that we can't work with your business. If you feel you have received this message in error, please contact us right away by replying to this email.Yours,The Stripe team"___Me:"Why not?Double Reed Outdoors"___Stripe:"Hi Double Reed Outdoors,Redacted from Stripe here. I'm really sorry that we've had to make our decision in relation to your account but allow me to explain why we've had to make it.Just to clarify; there's absolutely nothing wrong with Double Reed Outdoors. Having conducted a review of your website, it appears that you're selling a number of items that our financial partners won't allow us to support the sale of. Bows and arrows, crossbows, gun accessories, knives, bullet points etc. are all unsupportable due to their capacity to cause harm. As a result, we've had to deactivate your account.We here at Stripe HQ know that these restrictions are ludicrous. All of the above items are an integral part of the outdoor lifestyle and we're continually fighting these restrictions. However, change takes time to achieve. In situations like this, we recommend getting in touch with PaymentCloud. It's similar to Stripe, but was specifically created to support businesses which sell products and services that processors like Stripe are unable to. You can contact them here:https://paymentcloudinc.com/stripe/I'm sorry I don't have better news for you, Redacted but, on behalf of Stripe, I wish you every success for the future. If there's anything else I can do for you, just let me know.All the best,Redacted"___Me:"Please send me a list of your financial partners who do not support the sale of these items.Double Reed Outdoors"___Stripe:"Hi Double Reed Outdoors,Thanks for getting back to me.Our financial partners are Wells Fargo and they won't allow Stripe to support the sale of any of the items I mentioned. This is because they have a capacity to cause harm. I'm really sorry about this but these regulations are extremely strictly enforced.I wish you every success for the future. If there's anything else I can help you with, just let me know.All the best,Redacted"___Me:"I'm sorry to hear that about Wells Fargo. I will have to close my bank accounts with them.So they must not do any auto loans anymore either? Because more people are harmed by automobiles than bows, bullet tips, and arrows. And what about loans and transactions for restaurants? Heart disease is the number 1 cause of death in America. Those greasy burgers from fast food chains cause more harm than any of the inanimate products that I sell!For a bullet tip to do harm a person has to intentionally load a casing with a primer gunpowder and the bullet tip (which requires ballistics knowledge), load it into a gun and aim the gun at another person, then pull the trigger. For a bow to cause harm it needs to be combined with an arrow assembly. The arrow needs to be knocked. The bow needs to be physically drawn back (which can be very difficult with a heavy draw bow), aimed at another person, and released. In short my products cannot cause harm to anybody without another person, with intent to cause harm to other people.In addition to this my products may be used to defend those in harm's way, thus saving lives and minimizing harm to innocent victims. It is unfortunate for Stripe, as well as Wells Fargo Bank, that I need to inform all of my customers about your decision and Wells Fargo's decision to play political games with small businesses.I support hunting, shooting, self-defense, and the Constitution, including the Second Amendment, and strive to do business with like-minded companies and customers. Have a great day!Double Reed Outdoors"___Stripe:"Hi Double Reed Outdoors,I understand all of the points you're making. However, due to legal agreements with Wells Fargo, we have no choice but to follow through with their instructions. Unfortunately, for businesses like yours using Stripe, our financial partners hold these legal agreements to be just as sacrosanct as we hold the Second Amendment (on a personal level, I'm completely on your side here).I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Redacted. Believe me, it's a part of my job that I really don't like. If there's anything else I can do for you, just let me know.All the best,Redacted"___Me:"I understand contractual agreements. It's part of private business. However when the contract is up, Stripe should really consider a new financial partner. No response necessary.Double Reed Outdoors"___I've banked at Wells Fargo for more than 10 years. Not anymore! I'm in process of switching banks as we speak. If anyone knows of a Second Amendment friendly bank and eCommerce credit card processor please comment below or use our contact form. Thank you customers and vendors for your continued patronage, and support of our Constitution!