United Gun Shop, a federally licensed firearm dealer in Rockville, Maryland, has filed suit against Capital One and payment-processor Melio Payments, alleging the companies cut the business off from a bill-paying service because it sells firearms — and the National Rifle Association is now calling on the Trump administration to open a federal investigation into Capital One's conduct, Bearing Arms reported on May 10.

According to court documents cited in the report, United Gun Shop began using Capital One's business bill-pay platform in December 2024. The platform is marketed under Capital One's brand but operated behind the scenes by Melio Payments; the gun shop says it registered through Capital One and never agreed to Melio's separate terms of service. Payments began failing in March 2025, and a year later, in March 2026, Capital One sent the shop a formal notice that its account had been disabled — citing its business as a "restricted industry" as the reason.

The complaint alleges violations of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act, commercial disparagement, and breach of contract. Both Capital One and Melio have denied wrongdoing. The case arrives at a notable moment: President Trump's executive order titled "Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans" was explicitly intended to protect lawful businesses — including those in the firearms industry — from politically motivated denial of financial services. Notwithstanding that order, Capital One's March 2026 notice cited the shop's industry as grounds for termination.

Newsmax reported that the NRA has publicly called on the administration to probe Capital One's conduct. Should the administration open a formal investigation, the implications could extend well beyond this single case and set meaningful standards for how financial institutions must treat federally licensed dealers across the country.

United Gun Shop has faced legal pressure before. In 2024, the Maryland and D.C. attorneys general — backed by gun-control advocacy organizations — filed a gun-trafficking-facilitation suit against the shop. A Maryland circuit court dismissed that case with prejudice and without leave to amend in February 2025.

The broader problem of financial deplatforming for licensed firearm retailers has no clear federal remedy at present. Banks and payment processors have routinely cited reputational risk or internal compliance policies to deny services to businesses operating entirely within the law, and Congressional efforts to establish a federal cause of action for affected gun retailers have not advanced. The Maryland litigation is in its early stages; no trial date has been set.