Democrats Pressure Credit Card Companies and International Body to Track Gun Purchases

ANALYSIS – Just one more reason for law-abiding American citizens to make their gun purchase in cash; credit card companies will now be able to track your gun buys, paving the way for a global gun registry.

The move only applies to gun stores, which critics also note unfairly singles out these businesses for added scrutiny. (RELATED: Illinois State Police Making House Calls, Seizing Guns to Bring Revoked FOID Holders Into ‘Compliance')

With the explicit support of Democrat lawmakers such as New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York Attorney General Tish James, Amalgamated Bank, which brands itself as a “socially responsible bank” in New York, successfully lobbied the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to approve what is known as a “merchant category code” (MCC) explicitly for firearms stores.

The lefty bank had previously been denied its application to ISO for a new category for standalone gun and ammunition retail stories, but under pressure from Democrat lawmakers on the major credit card companies, ISO belatedly approved their request.

The sneaky measure approved on Friday was lauded by leftist politicians such as Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, among others.

But how did this happen now, after being repeatedly denied previously, in part due to credit card company opposition?

Well, earlier, on September 1, a group of Democrat lawmakers from the House and Senate put pressure on these credit card companies when they sent a letter to the chief executives of American Express, Mastercard and Visa, urging them to support the request for the new MCC at the ISO, and advising them to begin monitoring Americans' gun purchases.

According to these far-left politicos, the credit card companies could then help police “preempt some mass shootings.”

Critics note that actual criminals will quickly learn that they can't use credit cards for these types of purchases, meaning mostly only law-abiding citizens would be tracked in flagged transactions. (RELATED: NYPD to Assume Residents Carrying Firearms Are Doing So Unlawfully Until Proven Otherwise)

Merchant codes are four-digit codes that categorize retailers across all industries; until now, gun purchases had been classified under “miscellaneous retail stores” or “sporting goods stores.”

However, this new decision by ISO clears the way for banks that process gun retailers' payments to decide whether to assign the new gun code to certain gun merchants.

Buckling to the Democrat pressure, payment processor Visa Inc., the world's largest, announced on Saturday it plans to separately categorize gun shop sales that were previously considered “general merchandise” under the new gun merchant code.

It joins Mastercard and American Express, which also said they plan to move forward with categorizing gun shop sales.

While gun control activists say the move could help identify unusual sales of a large number of firearms and ammunition which could be a prelude to a mass shooting, Mint reports:

Gun rights advocates argue that tracking sales at gun stores would unfairly target legal gun purchases, since merchant codes just track the type of merchant where the credit or debit card is used, not the actual items purchased. A sale of a gun safe, worth thousands of dollars and an item considered part of responsible gun ownership, could be seen as a just a large purchase at a gun shop.

As Bloomberg reported:

The new code will apply to all purchases at gun and ammunition stores, though gun sales at other types of retailers won't be captured separately.

Lars Dalseide, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association said:

The (industry's) decision to create a firearm specific code is nothing more than a capitulation to anti-gun politicians and activists bent on eroding the rights of law-abiding Americans one transaction at a time.

For those who don't believe this will lead to an unconstitutional gun registry in the U.S., note the following from the Democrat lawmakers' letter:

The creation of a new MCC for gun and ammunition retail stores would be the first step towards facilitating the collection of valuable financial data that could help law enforcement in countering the financing of terrorism efforts…

Such coordination between financial institutions and law enforcement has been instrumental in efforts across the federal government to identify and prevent illicit activity.

So, yes, expect radical Democrats to use this gun control beachhead with ISO and the top credit card companies to further erode our constitutional right to bear arms and increase the power of the state to monitor and harass lawful gun owners.

Meanwhile, save yourself the burden of interest charges and government surveillance, and pay cash for all your guns and ammo. ALN

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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