This GFM is a little different coming from me as I generally keep mine firearms related; this one is about awareness or tuning into the world we live in. This world is far different from the one I grew up in as a child – in some ways better; other worse. I turn 53 this month and I can tell you adapting to change and staying aware is a real challenge and as you get older is less and less fun. The old adage about teaching a dog new tricks applies here. Understand the Internet and social media has us all connected more than ever but also allows us to isolate ourselves more than ever – all at the same time. Bizarre but true.
Case in point a friend of mine recently got stung by PayPal for firearms related transactions and had his account frozen. He wasn’t selling guns but that didn’t matter – they still locked him down for a period of time. Those that know PayPal know they are extremely anti-gun. My buddy is embarrassed as he was clueless and admits he should have known better but I see it’s a byproduct of the strange Internet awareness, or lack thereof, world we live in. Do your best to stay switched on and tuned in – it’s for your own good. In more ways than one.
-Larry Vickers
Vickers Tactical Inc.
Host of TacTV
Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical is a retired US Army 1st SFOD-Delta combat veteran with years of experience in the firearms industry as a combat marksmanship instructor and industry consultant. In recent years he has hosted tactical firearms related TV shows on the Sportsman Channel with the latest being TacTV of which Bravo Company is a presenting sponsor. Larry Vickers special operations background is one of the most unique in the industry today; he has been directly or indirectly involved in the some of the most significant special operations missions of the last quarter century. During Operation Just Cause he participated in Operation Acid Gambit – the rescue of Kurt Muse from Modelo Prison in Panama City, Panama. As a tactics and marksmanship instructor on active duty he helped train special operations personnel that later captured Saddam Hussein and eliminated his sons Uday and Qusay Hussein. In addition he was directly involved in the design and development of the HK416 for Tier One SOF use which was used by Naval Special Warfare personnel to kill Osama Bin Laden. Larry Vickers has developed various small arms accessories with the most notable being his signature sling manufactured by Blue Force Gear and Glock accessories made by Tangodown. In addition he has maintained strong relationships with premium companies within the tactical firearms industry such as BCM, Aimpoint, Black Hills Ammunition, Wilson Combat and Schmidt & Bender.
Larry Vickers travels the country conducting combat marksmanship classes for law abiding civilians, law enforcement and military and has partnered with Alias Training to coordinate classes to best meet the needs of the students attending the class.
Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer us some words of wisdom.
Tags: Alias Training and Security Services, Larry Vickers, LAV, Vickers Tactical
Paypal (and eBay though they are now divorced) is exceedingly anti-gun (and anti weapons in general) – unfortunately it’s also one of the easiest methods to send & receive money out there. Plus with the lack of seller protections these days I’d have a hard time justifying using it for physical goods, especially in a weapons related industry.
We won’t sell any ITAR restricted item over PayPal, but due to customer requests we use it for other goods. There are a number of banks that won’t process credit card transactions for businesses that sell knives or weapons related articles as well. I know Wells Fargo is one.
Again, I’m not trying to be a jerk, but every gun I have ever bought was purchased with my Wells Fargo card. I have only ever bought guns from gun stores. Never any problems.
I think he was referring to the seller end of things. Terms a different for card hokders and retailers.
Not the same, and no worries. They don’t care about that, they wold fund Al Queda if they could make monthly interest off of it. It’s as a retailer requesting to use them for PROCESSING transactions, meaning they would be who the money from the sale goes to before it ends up in our hands.
Ahh. I see. Wow. That sucks.
You got me by a few months! We need to do away with there liberal ideas and make America great again!
Devil’s advocate here. Is it that they are genuinely anti-gun or are they just unable to discern good gun transactions from bad, and they don’t want to wind up getting sued or in jail for enabling some eight-year-old to buy a 1911?
Looking at it entirely from a protective and pragmatic perspective, if I owned a business that sold or facilitated the sale of a broad variety of products, I’d have to seriously consider whether or not I want to expose my backside just to sell a few more items that happen to be guns.
Now, if I am a gun seller specifically, that’s a different ball of wax. Guns are my world, so it’s worth it for me to take the time to sell them and learn the laws. But you’re really jamming a silly straw in your pee hole to learn all of that just to add another department to your broad and varied lineup of other products.
Amazon is constantly removing any product that resembles an AR accessory. Yet canvasses the hell out of SHOT trying to destroy the market for the rest of us on core brands like Surefire (kinda pays attention) and Streamlight (are greedy and indifferent).
Amazon is Wal-Mart injected with the steroids of the internet. If you’ve ever seen how Wal-Mart destroys small towns, don’t bitch when Amazon does the same to your town.
Not trying to be a jerk, but I’m not sure I agree. Amazon sells a gajillion different AR products: I’ve purchased a variety of AR doodads from them.
If Amazon is trying to eliminate AR related products from their website, they are doing an exceedingly poor job of it.
Source: literally hundreds of AR products currently on Amazon.
Square is also extremely anti-gun as well.
We found EDPS (Electronic Data Payment Systems) when they previously exhibited at SHOT. They have always provided us with competitive rates, and when asked specifically say that they are extremely pro-2A. We’ve been using them for 8+ years.
Would Bitcoin be a suitable alternative?
I’ve read about other ecommerce sites that refuses to do business with adult video/toy/clothing stores as well.
Someone with deep pockets needs to start one transaction PayPal knockoff that caters exclusively to porn and firearms. That would be awesome and ‘Merican as Fuck.