Credit Card Tracking for gun sales – It seems like more and more companies are going woke to capitalize on sensationalism and further restrict your unalienable rights to keep and bear arms and protect yourself and your family.
Amalgamated Banks President, Priscilla Sims Brown, has now come out to say that your credit cards should report and classify all your purchases at any firearms-related store.
In an article from CNBC published on the 13th of July, Brown is calling for all credit card companies to classify all purchases with a credit card at gun stores like what they do with restaurants, mechanics, and others to “track gun purchases”.
The Merchant Category Code was mandated by the IRS in 2004 in the backlight of the Patriot Act, to track purchases that could be linked to terrorism. These codes are the same that allow you to look at your spending by category on your credit card statements but can also be used to flag people that make suspicious purchases.
This is why if you spent a ton of money on a purchase or spent it at a place or business you don’t frequent, you get a phone call asking if it was really you.
However, this is not as benign as being able to tell my wife that I spent too much money eating out according to our budget. This is literally a major financial institution attempting to identify your spending habits that they can then report if “something unusual is going on”.
I would love to ask who determines what is unusual, and whose business is it if I am going to the gun store every day or once a year. The article sites that the Las Vegas shooter took out massive amounts of credit cards ($90k) and spent $26k on guns and ammo, and something like this could be tracked and reported.
The other thought is that it will flag a purchase if you spend $1000 on a firearm the same day you get $1000 from someone that can’t own a firearm (felon or underage).
How does that company know who is able to own a firearm or not? Do they have access to criminal data? What happens if I am working for a felon and I am paid, then I go out and buy the gun I was working extra to get?
If I pay for landscapers and they turn around and go buy guns and ammo to enjoy the fruits of their labor, who the hell are they to determine that should be reported to authorities? What happened to the innocent before being proven guilty?
Currently, Visa and Mastercard have said they are not interested as they can’t separate between normal purchases at big box stores like Cabela’s from guns or regular merchandise.
MasterCard even said in a statement that they feel it would inhibit smaller gun stores because they sell other items than just firearms, as well as prevent the lawful purchase from law-abiding citizens.
However, with mounting political pressure, I foresee some of these companies changing their policies especially if laws are passed that companies can be held liable for the use of their product (guns only, despite cars killing way more people when not used in the manner they were supposed to).
This is why I and so many say not one step back, because it starts with a good idea, and then it is used against lawful citizens because I don’t know too many illegal arms sellers who take charge cards.
Author: Ian Bolser