Credit card companies to begin tracking gun purchases
Credit card companies will begin tracking gun purchases to allow authorities to investigate transactions they believe may lead to mass shootings.
Discover Financial Services last month became the first payment network to announce that in April it will add a separate merchant category code for gun retailers, which are currently categorized as “general merchandise”. The code will show where a purchase was made and the transaction amount, but not what was bought.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which decides merchant categories, approved the classification in September. While other credit card issuers such as Visa, Mastercard and American Express will be implementing the code, they have not yet set a date for doing so.
"We remain focused on continuing to protect and support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy of cardholders," Discover told Reuters.
The move is a victory for anti-gun operatives, including officials and pension funds which have been pushing payment networks to track firearms purchases. The goal, according to Associated Press, is help authorities predict if a mass shooting is about to occur based on gun purchasing patterns.
The AP notes that the decision is “a major win for gun control advocates who say it will help better track suspicious surges of gun sales that could be a prelude to a mass shooting.”
“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,” said National Rifle Association (NRA) spokesman Lars Dalseide.
The decision also lends further credence to economists' and lawmakers' warnings that financial institutions are becoming the “new legislatures”.
“They can’t pass the Green New Deal in the United States Congress,” said New Hampshire State Rep. J.D. Bernardy, “but the banks can certainly implement it. The major banks, financial management firms, and insurance companies are de facto deciding how we will be able to live. They are becoming our new legislatures.”
“I think it is highly likely that within the next two years, you’re going to see financial institutions start to use a personalized social credit score of some kind to make decisions about things like your access to loans, your interest rate, or whether you’re eligible for insurance coverage,” said Heartland Institute Director Justin Haskins, according to an analysis by The Epoch Times. “All the signs are pointing to that happening very soon,” he said.
In January, Wells Fargo suddenly closed the account of Brandon Wexler, a well-known gun dealer who had been with the bank for 25 years. The bank suggested it will no longer do business with firearms dealers when it told Wexler it was too “risky”.
