American Spirit Arms Leaves BofA, Moves To Local Bank

American Spirit Arms

Jan. 7, 2013 - Bank of America (BofA) tried to take the law into its own hands in late December when it froze the deposits of gun manufacturer American Spirit Arms. Late this morning, however, American Spirit announced that it has "gotten most of the deposits and have set up new accounts with a local bank."

Joseph P. Sirochman, owner of American Spirit Arms, says that BofA put his company's deposits on hold and under "further review." He says a bank employee told him, "We believe you should not be selling guns and parts on the Internet." Needless to say, Sirochman was very upset. On December 29, he posted about the ordeal on Facebook

This update was posted by American Spirit Arms at 10:45 AM CST, January 7, 2013 as a comment to the original post on Facebook (below):

I first want to thank all of you that have called, emailed and posted your support. I also wanted to post an update and to clear up some questions... BANK OF AMERICA started holding American Spirit Arms deposits for REVIEW on 12-18-12. Since that time we had to fight tooth and nail to get them released... We have now gotten most of the deposits and have set up new accounts with a local bank. Again I want to thank everyone for the outpour of support on this matter and believe because of you we were able to get our deposits..

Sincerely and Many Thanks,

Joseph P Sirochman
American Spirit Arms

Note: Sirochman's post got a lot of comments, and they're still coming in. Many commenters are urging him to sue BofA. A typical comment: "Get a good attorney and sue them... I am quite sure you will win, I would go for a few years worth of receipts for the damage done to your reputation and your business..."

Following is Sirochman's original Facebook post on December 29, 2012.

My name is Joe Sirochman owner of American Spirit Arms and I wanted to share my recent experience with Bank of America .(which we have been doing business with for over 10 years)…. Everyone is familiar with the latest increase in guns sales, dealers selling out of inventory, Manufacturers back logged for months, large revenue all generated in the last two weeks …. American Spirit Arms is no exception to the overwhelming demand.

What we have experienced is that our web site orders have jumped 500% causing our web site e-commerce processing larger deposits to BANK OF AMERICA ... Well, this through up a huge RED Flag with Bank of America. So they decided to hold the deposits for further review, meaning that the orders/payments that were coming in through the web, ( being paid by the customer and that were shipped out by American Spirit Arms ), the BANK was keeping (UNDER REVIEW )... as you could imagine this made me furious… After countless hours on the phone with BANK OF AMERICA I finally got a manager in the right department that told me the reason that the deposits were on hold for FURTHER REVIEW …HER EXACT WORDS WERE …

"WE BELIEVE YOU SHOULD NOT BE SELLING GUNS and PARTS ON THE INTERNET"

I flipped the F**k Out and told them that they have no right to make up their own new rules and regs, that we are a firearms manufacturer with all the proper licensing FFL (Federal Firearm license ), SOT and that we follow all Federal and All States’ rules and regulations on shipping Firearms and parts... and that we are also Audited by ATF and Homeland Security on a regular basis … She said that she understands that but that the deposits will be released after they have a chance to review and clear them …I told her that this was unacceptable and the those deposits (that were a week old by now ) needed to be released ASAP, that we are a small business and rely on the revenue to run and stay operational.

After that being said another Manager got involved and released one of the deposits (to help out )… So far to date after two weeks of sales only 1/3 of collected internet sales have been released ..I am still pissed and looking for another bank and options …

I just thought the public should know ..

I will keep everyone posted on new developments ..

Sincerely 

Joseph P Sirochman
American Spirit Arms
16001 N Greenway Hayden Loop, Suite B
Scottsdale AZ 85260
480-367-9540 phone
480-367-9541 fax

Related:

• BofA Freezes Licensed Gun Manufacturer’s Deposits Iconic Surrealism blog
• Bank of America Freezes Spirit Arms Deposits Bells A Ringing blog
• A Visit to American Spirit Arms (includes a video tour) Gunlab.net
• American Spirit Arms Facebook Page