Making firearm trading
safe, legal, and smart
GatSwap was founded on a simple belief: responsible gun owners deserve a modern, compliant platform to trade firearms. We are building the infrastructure that makes legal trading effortless.
Our Mission
The firearm trading market has operated largely offline, relying on handshake deals, classifieds, and fragmented networks. The result is friction, risk, and legal gray areas that hurt responsible gun owners and dealers alike.
GatSwap changes this by combining identity verification, FFL coordination, compliance automation, and intelligent matching into a single platform. Every trade on GatSwap goes through a licensed dealer, every user is verified, and every transaction is documented.
We are not just building a marketplace. We are building the standard for how firearms should be traded in the 21st century.
70,000+
FFL Dealers Nationwide
All 50
States Supported
100%
FFL-Routed Transfers
Free
To Browse & Join
What guides us
Compliance First
Every feature we build starts with a compliance review. We don't ship anything that compromises legal integrity.
Community Driven
Our product roadmap is shaped by the dealers, collectors, and traders who use GatSwap every day.
Transparency
Clear fees, honest communication, and open policies. No hidden charges, no bait-and-switch tactics.
Precision
We obsess over the details. From compliance checks to user experience, precision drives every decision.
The people & partners behind GatSwap
Built by a small team with a clear mission, backed by partners who believed in it.
Justin Lipes
CEO & Founder
Lifelong firearms enthusiast and entrepreneur who got tired of how broken the trading process was and decided to build the fix.
Prairie Shields Technology
IT & Development Team
Bridging the gap between design and technology to deliver pixel-perfect Web, iOS and Android experiences.
Visit website
FluidPay
Payments Partner
Our trusted payments infrastructure partner. When others said no, FluidPay said yes — enabling secure credit purchases and subscriptions across the platform.
Visit websiteOur journey
GatSwap founded — bootstrapped, no outside investors. Built from scratch with a clear mission: make legal firearm trading accessible and compliant for everyone.
Designed the core platform architecture — FFL routing, identity verification, and trade coordination built in from day one, not added as an afterthought.
Launched beta. Real users, real trades, real feedback. The foundation held up and the vision was validated by the community.
Hit a major setback — declined by our original payment processor. Instead of folding, we regrouped, found a better partner in FluidPay, and came back stronger.
Integrated FluidPay for secure credit and subscription payments. Grateful for a partner who understood what we were building and said yes.
Platform live nationwide — all 50 states, 70,000+ FFL dealers in the network, and a growing community of responsible gun owners trading the right way.