In February of 2024, it was reported that American Express, Visa, and Mastercard are moving ahead with a new code to track certain purchases in California.
Retailers use merchant codes that allow banks to detect purchase patterns and in 2023 planned to create a code just for gun purchases. But that move was paused after national blowback that tracking purchases would infringe on the rights of Americans.
Banks say they are now moving ahead with the merchant code to “comply with a new California law.”
From CBS News:
Major credit card companies are moving to make a merchant code available for firearm and ammunition retailers in order to comply with a new California law that will allow banks to potentially track suspicious gun purchases and report them to law enforcement, CBS News has learned.
Retailers are assigned merchant codes based on the types of goods they sell, and the codes allow banks and credit card companies to detect purchase patterns. Currently gun shops are lumped in with other types of retailers, such as sporting goods stores.
Recenlty, the Biden’s Administration ATF Director STeven Dettelbach (D) gave an interview that was a hot mess. Several times Dettelbach struggled to explain details of how certain firearms functioned.
Dettelbach is also demanding that gun stores refuse to sell certain types of weapons, like rifles to customers that pay cash.
“And for those who aren’t doing that, I hope and expect that, as Americans, we will do that,” he said. “But for those who aren’t, somebody comes into your store, in a border state and plunks down $12,000 cash money for one of these [.50 caliber rifles], so that there’s no credit card trail, I mean, my word, we hope that people will help us as Americans and continue to help us and not make that sale and protect our safety.”
“I’m just sort of doing a little bit of a commercial, for those who are going to be at the counter, thinking about it, do not let this happen,” he begged. “Please help us to stop this. We respect you. We depend on you. Please, as firearms dealers help us to stop this.”
ATF Director Steven Dettelbach went on CBS’s Face The Nation & displayed a shocking ignorance of firearms while trying to gin up fear to strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
It should scare everyone that Dettelbach doesn’t know the difference between a clip & a magazine. pic.twitter.com/0cABaCZ2sT
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 3, 2024
