Banks Will Begin Categorizing Gun Sales
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 2 months ago
Payment processor Visa Inc. said Saturday that it plans to start separately categorizing sales at gun shops, 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.
But the decision by Visa, the world’s largest payment processor, will likely provoke the ire of gun rights advocates and gun lobbyists, who have argued that categorizing gun sales would unfairly flag an industry when most sales do not lead to mass shootings. It joins Mastercard and American Express, which also said they plan to move forward with categorizing gun shop sales.
Visa said it would adopt the International Organization for Standardization’s new merchant code for gun sales, which was announced on Friday. Until Friday, gun store sales were considered “general merchandise.”
“Following ISO’s decision to establish a new merchant category code, Visa will proceed with next steps, while ensuring we protect all legal commerce on the Visa network in accordance with our long-standing rules,” the payment processor said in a statement.
Visa’s adoption is significant as the largest payment network, and with Mastercard and AmeEx, will likely put pressure on the banks as the card issuers to adopt the standard as well. Visa acts as a middleman between merchants and banks, and it will be up to banks to decide whether they will allow sales at gun stores to happen on their issued cards.
Gun control advocates had gained significant wins on this front in recent weeks. New York City officials and pension funds had pressured the ISO and banks to adopt this code.
Visa was the holdout, and they buckled.
I see a lot of firearms purchases being made in cash in the future.
Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit remarks.
SOCIAL CREDIT SCORING COMES TO AMERICA: Visa, Mastercard, AmEx to start categorizing gun shop sales.
Imagine if they were doing this about abortion. Or if legislatures tried to make them do so.
A reader comments: “Have you seen this yet? It sure feels like there is a very coordinated effort throughout the woke financial sector to create ‘private’ gun control. I wonder if it is being driven by interaction with the ATF, etc like the censoring of private speech by coordination between government and social media. Also, wouldn’t this enable the card companies to create a gun registry? The credit card transactions include our names and what we bought and the card company knows our addresses, etc. Seems like another example of actual fascism where government coerces private companies to do their bidding.”
Based on experience, the likelihood that this is happening without government encouragement is very low.
Government => Social Media => Censorship of speech.
Government => Financial Corporations => Censorship of products.
Government = Corporations.
Benito Mussolini would be very proud of his legacy.
On September 11, 2022 at 10:48 pm, Dan said:
Yet another attempt at backdoor gun registration……which is ALWAYS the first step in the plan to BAN and then CONFISCATE them.
On September 11, 2022 at 11:01 pm, George 1 said:
I guess now we can expect the ATF to come knocking when you purchase something at a gun shop. Just to make sure everything is lawful. It’s for the children.
On September 12, 2022 at 7:21 am, Frank Clarke said:
“…and it will be up to banks to decide whether they will allow sales at gun stores to happen on their issued cards.”
Can anyone here spell “conspiracy in restraint of trade”?
On September 12, 2022 at 10:35 am, xtphreak said:
“…the likelihood that this is happening without government encouragement is very low…”.
Actually zero.
https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/combinepdf%20(2).pdf
The usual tyrants are signatories on the letters to the Card companies:
Elizabeth Warren United States Senator
Madeleine Dean Member of Congress
Dianne Feinstein United States Senator
Edward J. Markey United States Senator
Eleanor Holmes Norton Member of Congress
Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. Member of Congress
Nydia M. Velázquez Member of Congress
Anthony G. Brown Member of Congress
Al Green Member of Congress Chair, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
André Carson Member of Congress
Sheila Jackson Lee Member of Congress
Mark DeSaulnier Member of Congress
Danny K. Davis Member of Congress
Thomas R. Suozzi Member of Congress
Barbara Lee Member of Congress
Sylvia R. Garcia Member of Congress
Robin L. Kelly Member of Congress
Suzan K. DelBene Member of Congress
Jennifer Wexton Member of Congress
Grace Meng Member of Congress
Juan Vargas Member of Congress
Dwight Evans Member of Congress
John B. Larson Member of Congress
Ro Khanna Member of Congress
Ritchie Torres Member of Congress
Donald S. Beyer Jr. Member of Congress
Carolyn B. Maloney Member of Congress
Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. Member of Congress
I will point out that I think the MCC (merchant category code) only flags the type merchant, I’ve never seen deeper breakdown, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to discover that the new MCC does exactly that.
On September 12, 2022 at 11:43 am, Latigo Morgan said:
It’s not a very far leap to go from tracing purchases to denying purchases.
Why stop at guns? There are unlimited numbers and letter combinations they can use for every product – like UPC codes. When will they use this to deny purchases of books they don’t like? How about foods they don’t want you to eat? Beef? Denied. Milk? Denied. Want to fill up your gas tank? Denied.
Let’s take it just a step further – central banks are already working on getting rid of cash and going to strictly digital currencies. So, no, you aren’t just going to pay cash for what you want. You’ll have to get more creative.
On September 12, 2022 at 12:02 pm, Redman said:
F’ing commies.
On September 12, 2022 at 1:48 pm, Georgiaboy61 said:
Re: “I see a lot of firearms purchases being made in cash in the future.”
Many retailers online have already stopped accepting any form of payment but credit cards. Not even cashiers checks or money orders. Debit and gift cards, yes, but only if they are tied to a specific name and address.
“Privacy will be the luxury good of the 21st century” (author unknown)
On September 12, 2022 at 2:47 pm, Paul B said:
This will not end well. Getting about time to start thinning the herd.
On September 12, 2022 at 10:35 pm, Frank Clarke said:
We are a sporting goods dealer.
“Do you sell guns and ammunition?
No, just rods and reels and lures, sometimes bait, tennis racquets, golf clubs, that sort of thing…
On September 13, 2022 at 9:22 am, Bradley A Graham said:
Your political affiliation will determine if your transaction is approved or declined.