Credit Card Reader Blocks Gun, Ammo Purchases

The tiny Square Reader allows entrepreneurs to use their cell phones to take credit card payments from anyone who wants to buy their goods — that is, unless they're buying firearms, tobacco and other items that the Obama administration has deemed "not acceptable."

Square changed its terms of agreement, reports The Daily Signal, after the Justice Department launched its "Operation Choke Point" initiative, which pushes banks to drop customers who sell such items.

Square updated its terms in August when it told venders that they were not to "accpet payments in connection with the following businesses or business activities: …sales of (i) firearms, firearm parts or hardware, and ammunition; or (ii) weapons and other devices designed to cause physical injury."

Under the former terms, Square users were only banned from selling of the items online.

The terms keep gun shop owners from using the one-by-one inch card swiper not only at their stores, but also offsite at events like gun shows, where they are more likely to use the reader to instantly ring up sales, meaning vendors had to stop processing transactions immediately.

There are other payment processors that are refusing to accept gun-related transactions, reports Guns.com. PayPal has refused transactions for guns, parts and ammunition for years, for example.

There are, however, other services that do allow credit card payment processing, says Guns.com, including the NRA Business Alliance, which includes online purchases, as does PistolPay, described as a PayPal for guns. PhoneSwipe is a cell phone processor like Square, but it accepts payments for guns and alcohol.

Square also does not allow transactions that involve pornography, escort services, drug paraphernalia, or "hate or harmful products," Guns.com reports.

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