America's Largest Gun Shop Abruptly Dropped by Credit Card Co. -- and the Reason Will Have You Shaking Your Head in Disbelief

The Hyatt Gun Shop of Charlotte, N.C., has been doing business for the last four years with  a subsidiary of Visa — a key Obama campaign donor — that specializes in credit card transactions.

But the subsidiary, Authorize.net/CyberSource, reportedly has ended its relationship with the nation’s largest gun store for a reason that might get you scratching your head.

Because the Hyatt Gun Shop sells, well, guns.

Image source: Hyatt Gun Shop web site

The Authorize.net email said that gun sales violated a section of the service agreement it signed with the gun shop, reportedly after Hyatt detailed its sales and products -- and, you know, its name -- according to the Washington Examiner.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Justin Anderson, Hyatt’s marketing director, who added it took a week and thousands of dollars to line up a “gun friendly” credit card processor for online sales.

More from the Examiner:

The brushoff of Hyatt's business has sparked a national boycott effort against Authorize.net and parent company CyberSource organized by the website Grass Roots North Carolina. “It looks like the small but noisy anti-gun crowd has gotten to what must be a jelly-spined PR department at CyberSource and Authorize.Net. Either that, or leadership at these companies have simply become anti-gun all on their own,” said the website in announcing the boycott.

Anderson suspects that the company, purchased by Visa in 2010, got cold feet dealing with a leading gun seller and he said that he's heard of other gun stores being dropped. The company had no immediate comment.

The sudden move comes two weeks after the Washington Navy Yard shootings which were followed by President Obama's plea for more gun control.

Several Visa executives contributed to the president’s re-election campaign, the Examiner notes, adding that their total was $21,780, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Here's the email notice from Authorize.net:

Dear Hyatt Gun Shop Inc,

Authorize.Net LLC ("Authorize.Net") has determined that the nature of your business constitutes a violation of Section 2.xiv of the Authorize.Net Acceptable Use Guidelines and Sections 3.3 and 11.3 of the Authorize.Net Service Agreement (the "Agreement"). These sections include, but are not limited to, the sale of firearms or any similar product. Accordingly, pursuant to Section 4 of the Acceptable Use Guidelines, your ability to access and use the Authorize.Net Services will be terminated on September 30, 2013.

(H/T: Washington Examiner)

--

[related]