APOPKA, Fla. –-(Ammoland.com)- A change in policy announced Monday night by Shopify, an e-commerce platform used by more than 600,000 merchants to conduct online sales, will essentially shut down the sale of guns, gun parts and accessories over the internet by retailers who use Shopify.
Spike’s Tactical, a Florida-based gun manufacturer, has built their entire website and online sales portal exclusively using the Shopify platform and conducts millions of dollars in sales through Shopify each year.
“This decision will have significant ramifications to our business and should concern every online retailer and Second Amendment supporter,” said Cole Leleux, general manager of Spike’s Tactical.
Some of the new amended rules in Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy now include banning the sale of semi-automatic firearms that have an ability to accept a detachable magazine and are capable of accepting more than 10 rounds. Additionally, unfinished lower receivers are also prohibited, according to the new rules. Most of Spike’s Tactical’ s products include AR-15 parts and full rifles, which would fall under those new restrictions.
One of the things that makes this more challenging for businesses like Spike’s Tactical, is that Shopify’s platform is entirely proprietary, meaning the information stored on their platform cannot be easily transferred to another online platform.
“We have invested more than $100,000 in the development of our Shopify store, which will disappear once these policies go into effect,” said Leleux.
As for when these new policies will go into effect, that remains a mystery. When representatives from Spike’s Tactical reached out to Shopify to try to learn more, Shopify refused to answer any questions and directed Spike’s Tactical team members to the Shopify legal department, which at the time of this news release, has yet to respond.
Ironically, when challenged by left-leaning critics about selling Breitbart products in 2017, Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke said, “We don’t like Breitbart, but products are speech and we are pro free speech. This means protecting the right of organizations to use our platform even if they are unpopular or if we disagree with their premise, as long as they are within the law.”
It now seems that Shopify has reversed course on their previous belief, as our products are not only legal, but also used by many law enforcement agencies, Leleux said.
Another gun company, which will also feel the pain of Shopify’s recent decision is Rare Breed Firearms. Rare Breed announced the launch of their new Spartan lower receiver last week and the product is also sold online exclusively through Shopify.
“We have spent the last three years developing the Rare Breed brand and more than $40,000 developing our Shopify site,” said Lawrence DeMonico, president of Rare Breed Firearms, an Austin, Texas based firearms company. “Depending on how this policy is rolled out, this is a move that could put companies like ours out of business, and we will undoubtedly be looking to pursue legal options.”
Any other gun manufacturers or retailers who are also experiencing issues related to this new policy are encouraged to contact Spike’s Tactical, as they are looking at legal options to potentially file a class action lawsuit.
About Spike’s Tactical
Spike’s Tactical was founded the day before 9/11 by Mike and Angela Register and is headquartered in Apopka, Florida. The family-owned business employs around 40 people and all products are made exclusively in the USA and assembled in Florida. Spike’s Tactical is regarded as one of the premier AR-15 manufacturers in the world. Their mission is to build the highest quality products and offer them at the best possible price to the consumer. Spike’s Tactical weapons are designed to military specifications for civilian, law enforcement and military use. All products manufactured by Spike’s Tactical feature a manufacturer’s lifetime warranty.
About Rare Breed Firearms
Rare Breed Firearms was established in 2016 to develop innovative, visually appealing and highly functional firearm designs. Rare Breed Firearms is based in Austin, Texas and is veteran-owned and operated. Through friendly competition, their goal is to drive innovation and bring new designs to the market.
My thought on this matter could be summed up as follows. This Shopify mob as performed, what is sometimes described as An Unnatural Act On Itself. May they suffer forever as a result.
If you are not happy about this then give them a call and peacefully let them know its not OK to discriminate against Americans based on their Constitutional rights! (888) 746-7439)
I just added Shopify to to my punish website program, along with Dicks Sporting goods.
The “Punish website” program will not allow me to check out there.
You don’t always know when you are transferred to Shopify.
we’ve been saying this will happen for years. That’s why we never built on third party software that’s hosted elsewhere.
We build real websites for real companies no bull no bias.
centerfire.co
Just a thought concerning the possibility of “civil war”, in the near future; The current crop of libtards, snowflakes, antifa wanna-be thugs, screaming never-Trumpers, and let’s not pass over those paragons of decency and fairness, the dnc…..all together, on their best day, with the media spurring them on, don’t have the stones to make the first move. Oh, there may me a few die-hards here or there, but as a group, they don’t want ANY of what they certainly know, would result. They are misguided, misled and victims of their own making. If the time ever came for them to… Read more »
We at 3dcart.com are an alternative to Shopify that supports firearms and gun accessories, as well as other high-risk legal industries. Check us out at http://www.3dcart.com and if you’re switching from Shopify due to this new policy we’ll switch you for free to 3dcart.
Well just someone else that doesn’t want my business.
Just though I would mention: Gun Rodeo is a 100% gun friendly platform build for specifically the gun industry. And we offer the same e-commerce services as Shopify. Check us out:
http://www..gunrodeo.com/hosting
What is the corporate mailing address of Shopify? What are the names of its executives? We need to know who these people are and where they conduct business so we can let them know what we think of their hate campaign against firearms owners.
I agree with Brad Sunder there should be a list of companies that do use Shopify so we can spend our hard earned money somewhere else!!!