Friday, March 29, 2024

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

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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 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 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 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 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 in countering the financing of efforts…

Such coordination between financial institutions and law enforcement has been instrumental in efforts across the federal 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 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.

READ NEXT: The IRS Has Purchased Night Vision Goggles, Millions in Ammunition >>

Paul Crespo
Paul Crespohttps://paulcrespo.com/
Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Liberty Defense News. As a Marine Corps officer, he led Marines, served aboard ships in the Pacific and jumped from helicopters and airplanes. He was also a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide. He later ran for office, taught political science, wrote for a major newspaper and had his own radio show. A graduate of Georgetown, London and Cambridge universities, he brings decades of experience and insight to the issues that most threaten our American liberty – at home and from abroad.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Does anyone really think credit card companies aren’t doing this already? That they don’t already know each and every purchase you make?

  2. Concerned about legal gun and ammo sales tracking but not concerned about the extensive illegal smuggling of enough phentenol to kill millions of Americans. Its not about the guns… its about attacking the funding sources of the other party.

    • Good call…. its ALWAYS BIGGER THAN U THINK… LIKE AN ICEBERG HIDES 90% OF ITSELF!!!
      WELCOME TO “THE SUPREME SOVIET OF THE DNC!”
      If Conservatives don’t monitor th Polling Places this fall … th US is SCREWED…. AND WE’RE BENDING OVER..

  3. Sounds more like they are pressuring gun owners to hate democrats. We’ll see how that worked after the war. All the trials of democrats.

  4. This is a stupid move by the credit card companies. The gun sales here amount to billions of dollars every year. Now people will just save their money and pay in cash or maybe there will be a credit card company not intimidated by the left. There’s also the possibility of gun dealers financing them themselves. Either way Visa and Mastercard could be out of millions in revenue. I hope that pleases your stock holders.

  5. I don’t think, one step closer to a civil war, is a victory for anybody. They’re making their bed and pretty soon they’ll have to sleep in it. RIP

  6. hmmmm. . .the problem with going to cash is that it restricts one’s choices to purchase at the store and price that they prefer. seems like it might be a good time to launch a new credit card co which supports constitutional rights and free/open markets while not kowtowing to the whims of a limited and easily distracted populace. so long as they offer generous incentives, I’ll use that card and purchase the company stock as well. in the quid pro quo column, perhaps the iso can create a category for abortion/birth control/’reproductive health’ that can be tracked–after all, murder/genocide are socially unacceptable–heck, even might be construed as illegal depending on whether the rule of law is acknowleged/applied. . .

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