Exclusive: A ‘Program of Discrimination’: Kickstarter Refuses to Help Company Making Child Locks for Guns

When Dave Hellekson invented the Pumalock Interrupter, he hoped to fund his new venture by launching a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. While the popular website prohibits funding for “weapon accessories,” Helleckson’s quick-access gun lock is, by definition, not an accessory.

That’s why he was surprised when Kickstarter instantly rejected his campaign. Assuming the company’s bots had mistakenly flagged his product, he reached out to a customer service agent, who replied:

“We disallow any weapons accessories regardless of their intended use. As such, we would not be able to approve this project, per both Kickstarter’s rules and the rules of our payments processor.”