Email and SMS Marketing for Gun and Ammo Stores: What Klaviyo and Mailchimp Actually Allow

If you sell firearms, ammunition or gear online, you already know paid ads are mostly closed to you. Google Shopping and Google Ads block guns, ammo and many parts (we covered the feed side in Google Shopping firearm feed exclusions), and the big social platforms restrict weapons advertising. That makes the channels you own, your email list and your text list, the most important marketing you have.

But those channels have rules too, and they aren’t the same. The two most common platforms for ecommerce stores, Klaviyo and Mailchimp, publish clear policies on firearms content. Here is what those policies say as of October 2026, and what they mean for a dealer or online gun store planning its next campaign.

The short version

• Email: Neither Klaviyo’s nor Mailchimp’s published acceptable use policy bans email marketing for lawful firearms or ammunition.
• SMS on Klaviyo: Possible, but narrow. You need a 21+ age gate on a U.S. short code, and even then you can’t promote specific gun products.
• SMS on Mailchimp: Effectively not available for gun and ammo brands. Mailchimp only supports SMS age-gating for alcohol.

Platform policies change, so check the current pages linked below before you build a program around them.

Why SMS is the hard channel

Text messaging in the U.S. runs through wireless carriers, and carriers set strict content rules. The industry shorthand for the riskiest categories is SHAFT: sex, hate, alcohol, firearms and tobacco.

Both platforms list firearms as a SHAFT category for SMS. Klaviyo’s definition is broad. According to its SMS and MMS prohibited content article, the firearms category includes:

• Explosives
• Firearm accessories
• Ammo
• Holsters
• Targets
• Lessons
• Depictions of violence
• Other weapons, such as tactical knives

That list matters for stores that don’t think of themselves as gun sellers. A holster shop, a target supplier or a training business falls inside Klaviyo’s firearms SMS category based on that wording.

What Klaviyo allows for SMS

Klaviyo’s age-gating article says firearm-related content “may be allowed” with SMS age-gating in the United States and the United Kingdom. In the U.S., the age is 21 and the sending number must be a short code. Klaviyo says it detects firearms brands during SMS setup and walks you through the age gate there.

Passing the age gate doesn’t open everything up. Klaviyo’s prohibited content article says direct promotion of specific SHAFT products, “such as referencing a particular firearm model,” is not permitted. Its own examples of messages you can’t send are:

• “Get 10% off all AR rifles today only…”
• A “New rifles on sale” text linking to deals

What Klaviyo does allow is brand-level messaging. Its examples of acceptable texts are a general sale (“Huge summer sale! Shop all collections online”) and a back-in-stock note that doesn’t name products (“Customer favorites are back in stock!”). Messages still need opt-out instructions and must follow federal and state law.

The carrier rule that can stop all your texts

Klaviyo’s article also spells out carrier requirements, and these are the ones that can hurt the most:

• You may not use SMS to market any firearm or firearm parts that are not legal in all 50 states.
• If a campaign references restricted firearms, “such as AR-style products,” carriers may immediately halt all messaging traffic for review. Klaviyo calls this a Severity 0 action.
• Links are allowed, but they can’t send people to pages selling firearms or parts that aren’t federally legal across the U.S.

The practical risk is that one careless text about an AR sale or a magazine deal can pause your whole SMS program, not just that one message. If your catalog includes items that are restricted in some states, keep texts generic and link to your homepage or a general sale page.

What Mailchimp allows

Mailchimp’s SMS age-gating article lists SHAFT, including firearms, as prohibited or restricted for SMS. It supports age-gating only for alcohol. In its FAQ, Mailchimp says other SHAFT content, “including but not limited to, tobacco, firearms, and cannabis,” is “not eligible at this time.”

For a gun or ammo store, that means Mailchimp is not a path to SMS marketing right now.

Email is the safer owned channel

The picture is different for email. Klaviyo’s acceptable use policy applies its SHAFT restrictions to short codes, toll-free numbers and other mobile messaging. We didn’t find a firearms ban for email in that text. Mailchimp’s acceptable use policy doesn’t mention firearms, weapons or ammunition at all. It does prohibit illegal goods, as you’d expect.

Two cautions. First, a published policy isn’t the same as how a company enforces it on a given account, and we haven’t verified enforcement practice. Second, you’ll see claims online that a given platform bans gun businesses outright. Read the platform’s current policy yourself rather than relying on a third party’s summary.

A practical checklist before your next campaign

1. Build the email list first. It’s the channel with the fewest platform restrictions. Put signup forms on product pages, at checkout and in order confirmations.
2. If you want SMS, start with the age gate. On Klaviyo, set up a U.S. short code with the 21+ age gate. Don’t try to send firearms content from a toll-free or long code number.
3. Write texts at the store level. “Fall sale this weekend, shop all” is in line with Klaviyo’s allowed examples. A discount on one named pistol model is the kind of product-specific promotion its rules prohibit.
4. Keep restricted items out of texts entirely. That includes AR-style products, which Klaviyo names, and anything else that is not legal in all 50 states, such as magazines some states restrict. Check where your links land too.
5. Remember accessories count. If you sell holsters, targets, ammo or classes, Klaviyo’s SMS rules treat that content as firearms.
6. Recheck the policies quarterly. These pages change. Klaviyo’s acceptable use policy, for example, was last updated April 9, 2026. Note the date you last reviewed each one.
7. Get advice for the hard cases. Platform rules are only one layer. State marketing and age rules also apply, and a firearms attorney can help with questions specific to your business.

Where compliance actually lives

Email and texts bring shoppers back to your site. The compliance work that matters most for firearms happens after they arrive: making sure each gun order is tied to a licensed dealer who will handle the transfer. That’s where Automatic FFL fits: shoppers choose their transfer dealer right at checkout. Setup details are in our documentation.

Keep your messages general, keep your list growing, and keep the product specifics on your website where you control them.

Sources

• Klaviyo: Understanding SMS and MMS prohibited content
• Klaviyo: How to use age-gating with Klaviyo
• Klaviyo: Acceptable Use Policy
• Mailchimp: Acceptable Use Policy
• Mailchimp: Age-gating requirements for SMS

This article is general information, not legal advice. Platform policies cited were reviewed in October 2026 and may change.