TacticalPay, a gun store point-of-sale (POS) and payments provider, has served federal firearms licensees (FFLs) — businesses licensed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to deal in firearms — since 2017. The company now operates as TacticalPay LLC, an independent entity. On October 1, the new company took full ownership of the TacticalPay brand, website, products, and services. Rich McIver leads the business as Co-Founder and CEO, with Andy Hagans as Co-Founder and President. With more than a decade in operation behind it, TacticalPay plans to reinvest in easier-to-use payment tools for gun stores. For the FFLs it serves, the near-term marker to watch is how that reinvestment shows up across the Tap, E-commerce, and POS offerings now consolidated under the single LLC.

Growth by Word of Mouth, From Startup FFLs to Established Stores

Over the past decade, the TacticalPay brand has grown largely through referrals passed between gun shop owners. Much of that growth stems from grassroots credibility within the industry, as well as ease of use. Most merchant applications are approved within one to three business days, and onboarding is handled by TacticalPay's in-house, Texas-based team.

Others have taken notice. GunFriendlyPayments.com, a firearms payments guide, ranked TacticalPay first among its top five gun-friendly processors in July 2025. In an August 2025 guide, payments company Borderfree Payments wrote: "Their '2A Friendly' stance means they are committed to the industry for the long haul, offering reliable merchant accounts to FFLs of all sizes." The existence of dedicated guides that rank "gun-friendly" processors points to how firearms retail occupies a specialized corner of the payments industry, where a provider's stated commitment to serving FFLs factors into merchants' choices alongside price and features.

Entry-Level Plans for In-Person and Online Sales

For in-person sales, the company's TacticalPay Tap software accepts contactless payments directly on a phone, with no terminal required. The app is available on all major smartphone platforms and works at a retail counter or a gun show. For online sales, TacticalPay's E-commerce plan includes a payment gateway that covers a merchant's website, listings on GunBroker (an online firearms marketplace), and phone orders. Both plans are priced at $69 per month, all in. Pricing is listed online at tacticalpay.com, so merchants can compare plans without talking to a salesperson or requesting a custom quote.

Full-Featured POS for High-Volume Stores

For higher-volume retailers, TacticalPay POS is a full-featured gun store point-of-sale system. ATF compliance is built in, including an electronic bound book — the acquisition-and-disposition record federal regulations require FFLs to maintain — and 4473 forms, the transaction records completed for firearm transfers. The system also tracks serialized inventory and handles trade-ins, consignments, and gunsmithing. The POS plan costs $199 per month plus a one-time hardware bundle. Bundling payments and compliance recordkeeping in a single system means the same platform a store uses to ring up sales also maintains its federal records.

"We're putting everything we have into the firearms industry," said Andy Hagans, the company's Co-Founder and President. "Most of our merchants found us through another gun shop owner. That tells us ease of use matters as much as features. At TacticalPay, we believe a new FFL should be approved and selling within days. And they should be able to understand what they're paying for credit card processing, without any hidden fees."

Source: Global FinTech Series