'The true Soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because He loves what is behind him.' -G. K. Chesterton

13 March 2012

Apparently Capital One Thinks An Image Of A Gun Is Socially Unacceptable Or Discriminatory

I was visiting with my buddy Bruce today, talking guns and prices. Bruce is the owner of OFS Tactical and he's been helping me out by selling a few of my no longer needed/wanted firearms. As we were discussing the latest batch I left him he dropped this nice little hoplophobic number on me.

He is in the process of obtaining a company credit card from Capital One. He sent in his information and the image he wanted displayed. It's his company logo. It's an M4 in black silhouette with his company name, OFS Tactical below. They sent this in response.


Sorry, we were unable to approve
 the image you submitted
Sorry the image you submitted for
your Capital One®
Image CardSM has been rejected.
We will not approve any images
that contain the following:

Socially unacceptable or discriminatory
behavior, signs or statements
(e.g. gangs, hatred, drugs/alcohol abuse,
tobacco, graffiti, or illegal firearms use)

If you believe that you
have been declined in error,
please call us at 1-866-381-0451.

Please visit www.capitalone.com/imagecard
to upload a new image.

 

Please note the reasons given for denial. Bruce sent this right back. (Note: As most of you know I am a Luddite so I'm re-typing this from the PDF Bruce sent to me instead of copying and pasting. I'm not leaving anything out except for some images and not adding anything in.)


This card image I selected is my logo for my company and been since April of 2009. I am a federally licensed dealer of firearms and sell to the UNITED STATES MILITARY, LAW ENFORCEMENT and 28 agencies of the Government.





My company advocates for the freedom of the Second Amendment and SAFE USE AND HANDLING of firearms. We are a family of veterans who have fought and died for your individual rights and FREEDOMS, please don't take ours away. The simple image of a firearm in no way, shape or form infringes on "Socially unacceptable or discriminatory behavior, signs or statements (e.g. gangs, hatred, drugs/alcohol abuse, tobacco, graffiti, or illegal firearms use) and if you feel so inclined to make that argument I would like you to explain Vikings running through a village, pillaging and wielding battle axes and swords. What's in your wallet?

(Here Bruce included two captured images from the Capital One ads showing the rampaging Vikings)


I like Capital One but the political correctness must stop and I implore you to reconsider your initial judgement. I am prepared to take this argument as far as needs be; NRA, FOX News, Blogs, Second Amendment rights activists, YouTube, etc. And I have a pretty good my military and law enforcement buddies nation wide will support me by boycotting your fine establishment.


Now Bruce and OFS Tactical are a classic small business, really it's just him, trying to make his mark and maybe enough money to pay the bills. But the size of the dog is irrelevant. What Capital One is in essence saying is that the very image of a gun (and thereby all guns themselves) is so offensive that they refuse to allow a company logo credit card to show one. The language they used left me indignant to the point of anger and perhaps the use of some bad language. Socially unacceptable behavior, signs or statements. Wow. Just Wow.

So here's my response to Capital One, which I will be sending after I've finished this post along with a link for their perusal. Please feel free to let them know how you feel in comments.

Dear Capital One:

I was recently made aware of your rejection of the image of a legal firearm on an Image Card credit card for OFS Tactical. Your stated reason was the following;

Socially unacceptable or discriminatory behavior, signs or statements (e.g. gangs, hatred, drugs/alcohol abuse, tobacco, graffiti, or illegal firearms use)

What I find offensive and discriminatory is your rejection of the image for no more reason than that you don't like it. The simple image of a legal firearm is no more socially unacceptable that a sword or a battle ax which I believe you are more than happy to show in your commercials. Even when in the hands of a child. A weapon is a weapon and is no more dangerous than the hand that wields it. If a company or individual are law abiding and the image is not one of violence and mayhem (that's a subtle hint right there. Did you get it?) then a shadow image of the weapon that has secured freedom for more people than any other in mankind's history is not unacceptable or discriminatory except in the close minded. I am not a Capital One customer at this time nor will I ever be if this is your stance. I am also a veteran and a retired police officer who runs a modest little blog and who is going to shout to the internet and anyone who will listen as to your actions. I urge you to reconsider and work with the owner of OFS tactical to resolve this issue. I have written about this incident. I am including a link to that post. We firearm owners are neither stupid nor non-discretionary. We have funds to spend and credit cards to use and we are very aware of who is actively opposing the lawful exercise of our rights and who is not. It's your company and you can certainly run it any way you see fit but it's our money and we can handle it the same way. And, somehow, I doubt very much that this is the first time such has occurred.

What's in your wallet indeed.

Sincerely
Six


8 comments:

innominatus said...

There's a lot of that kind of crap going around nowadays.

Warlock Sundance said...

Legal forearm?

Home on the Range said...

I just cut up my Capital One Card and put it in an envelope to them with a note that it was destroyed with a very large knife, which apparently is OK.

I was tempted to do this when that started to use that liberal temper tantrum throwing "actor" Baldwin
on their commercials.

This clinched it.

Six said...

And it's only going to get worse as they continue to lose Inno. Piss on 'em.

That's as opposed to an Illegal Forearm Warlock which, as everyone knows, has a Radius shorter than 16 inches and fires off two Ulnas with one pull on the funny bone. Fixed and thanks for the catch.

I figure they think they're so big they are immune to repercussions from such decisions Brigid. I think it's up to us to disabuse them of that idea. Good On Ya for whacking them with the clue bat. You are still the Valkyrie of the gun world!

God, Gals, Guns, Grub said...

Can't wait to see Capital One's response to his response...

Dann in Ohio

Six said...

It's liable to be a blood pressure raiser Dann.

MOB 06 said...

Well My letter was returned to sender unopened, I did call them and they basically said I could try to take legal actions to force them to allow my logo on their card... But they did not have contact info for a legal department nor were they willing to send a written statement further discussing the matter. The young Lady Christine; Operator code: G2R365, did say they did not want to offend anti gun "hippie types"

MOB 06 said...

http://www.paymentallianceintl.com/


i DID FIND A CREDIT COMPANY PROUD OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT, DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THEM OTHER THAN THAT!