Maryland Gun Shop Sues After Being Denied Banking Services

Last August, President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans”, in which he stated that “financial institutions have engaged in unacceptable practices to restrict law-abiding individuals’ and businesses’ access to financial services on the basis of political or religious beliefs or lawful business activities.”

One of those lawful business activities is running a gun shop, and Trump’s EO was aimed in part at preventing discrimination against those FFLs. A Maryland gun store, however, claims that even after the executive order was issued, Capital One and a company called Melio denied them access to a bill-paying service, even after the gun store had used it for months without issue. 

As the Daily Wire reports, United Gun Shop claims that it was first told by Capital One in April, 2025 that it was not cut off from using the service, but just three days later a contradictory message was delivered by Melio, which actually runs the Capital One Pay Business Bills program. 

United Gun Shop said it never agreed to Melio’s terms and only registered to use Capital One’s platform.

Exhibits attached to the suit showed successful payments being made with the platform starting in December 2024 before starting to fail in March 2025. 

A second written confirmation came on March 2026 when the gun shop received a message from Capital One Business saying that “our team wasn’t able to verify that your account and activity meet our eligibility criteria” and that “your account could not be approved and has been disabled from completing any transactions.”

One of the potential reasons suggested in the email why it was listed as ineligible was because “your business is considered a restricted industry.”

The suit said that message was the first “formal notice of non-approval for banking with Capital One” after “an informal deplatforming” and the meeting with Capital One in April 2025.

Even if Capital One and Melio thought they could get away with denying services to a gun shop in March of last year, President Trump’s executive order in August, 2025 should have disabused them of that notion. The fact that United Gun Shop was told in March of this year that the business could be considered a “restricted industry” is troublesome, and suggests that discrimination based on political point of views or support for the Second Amendment is still okay with one or both companies. 

NRA-ILA Executive Director John Commerford said in response to the story that the “NRA is no stranger to anti-gun activists and institutions weaponizing their power to damage our organization and the Second Amendment.”

That is precisely why we have worked closely with President Trump to push back against these unethical practices. Companies that deliberately hinder the lawful commerce of firearm manufacturers and retailers must be investigated immediately and held fully accountable.

I’m glad that United Gun Shop is suing these companies, but Commerford is correct that there should be a full investigation into the actions of Capital One and Melio. If that investigation uncovers evidence that United Gun Shops was denied services solely because of what it sells, then the Trump administration needs to take whatever steps are necessary to sanction and punish those responsible  for locking their virtual doors to United Gun Shop… and potentially other federally licensed firearm dealers too.  

Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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