PSA: Discover To Enable Tracking Of Purchases At Gun Retailers From April

Public Service Announcement: Discover will be the first credit card company to use a code and send your purchases from gun retailers to law enforcement. Do you really want to be harassed by law enforcement for legal purchases?

Everyone should make them "discover" nobody wants their crappy card or the unnecessary trouble caused by lighting you up for law enforcement harassment.


www.reuters.com...

Discover Financial Services (DFS.N), a provider of credit cards, told Reuters it will allow its network to track purchases at gun retailers come April, making it the first among its peers to publicly give a date for moving ahead with the initiative, which is aimed at helping authorities probe gun-related crimes.

Discover's announcement came after the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which decides on the classification of merchant categories used by payment cards, approved in September the launch of a dedicated code for gun retailers.

Proponents of the move, including gun control activists and Democratic politicians, say it will allow financial institutions to better assist authorities in investigating crimes involving gun violence in the United States.

Wouldn't it be grand if they could put this kind of effort into getting illegal guns off the streets and out of the hands of thugs, felons and gang members?

Visa, Mastercard, AmEx to categorize gun store sales separately

Payment processor Visa announced Saturday its plans to separately categorize gun shop sales, joining Mastercard and American Express, which have already said they would categorize purchases at firearm stores.

Visa said it would apply the International Organization for Standardization’s new merchant code to gun shop sales. The new IOS code was announced on Friday. Previously, gun store sales were labeled as "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," Visa said in a statement.

The move by Visa signals a major victory for gun control advocates who argue that a separate category for gun store sales will help track suspicious quantities of firearm sales that could potentially lead to a mass shooting.

Payment processor Visa announced Saturday its plans to separately categorize gun shop sales, joining Mastercard and American Express, which have already said they would categorize firearm sales.

But gun rights advocates and gun lobbyists have said categorizing gun shop sales would be unfair to the industry given that most firearm sales do not result in mass shootings.

Visa, which acts as a middleman between merchants and banks, is the largest payment network. And with three major payment processors all electing to label gun store sales, there will now likely be pressure placed on banks as card issuers to decide if they will permit purchases categorized as gun shop sales on their issued cards.

www.foxbusiness.com...

That was back in September 2022. Sounds like it's more common than we know. I haven't read anything yet about forwarding the information to law enforcement though. I would like to see the the actual claims of that from some credit card companies. Something I read about is that ANY product purchase from a gun store would receive the same MCC (merchant category code). So if you bought a gun safe, hunting accessories or targets for practice, it would get the same MCC as if you purchased a gun or ammunition.

a reply to: infolurker


until they dethrone it, cash is king. never ever buy anything that you don't want someone to know about with a credit or debit card. gift cards are ok so long as you don't stick a name to it, and use cash to but the card.

a reply to: infolurker

Evenin friend'....What I dont get? Is me a daily carrier and owner for 45+ yrs, the Police already HAVE all that. In fact, before you walk out, Mi State Police clear you...and your credit card. Its pretty nip and tuck.

If all this is sending a cc: to LEO from the credit cards comps....99% of all thats on the same B.of.S.

So pretty much in quad-rip-licate as always: Register, photocopy your I.D., credit card, Fingerprints ....soooo.

Im in favor of anything to help but I dont see now...how. I get the card holder companies are NOW gonna send their copy(already prob attchd to the original purchase anyway)...but this isnt much different, other than them now submitting records.

I dont thinks unreasonable, either.

So there are already codes for everything else you buy, yet this is too far? A murder happens, you're a suspect, they find you made purchase from Home Depot, rope, a saw, plastic tarp, bleach, but heaven forbid they knew you bought a gun? Um. Ok.

One thing we need in America -- mandatory liability insurance on gun ownership. There is no state in the union that allows anyone to operate a vehicle on a driver's license only, everyone also needs liability insurance. Why?

Because operating a vehicle can cause severe injury to others, possibly death, and put people in life long debt over those injuries. That should not be on the victims, and liability insurance takes care of that.

Same should apply to guns.

originally posted by: Mahogany
One thing we need in America -- mandatory liability insurance on gun ownership. There is no state in the union that allows anyone to operate a vehicle on a driver's license only, everyone also needs liability insurance. Why?

Because operating a vehicle can cause severe injury to others, possibly death, and put people in life long debt over those injuries. That should not be on the victims, and liability insurance takes care of that.

Same should apply to guns.

Do you know what "shall not be infringed" means. You can't force someone to pay a fee before they can exercise a right.

a reply to: Mahogany

Thank you. I tend to agree with you. Few words, well said! Thanx

a reply to: Mahogany

OK bright one.

Liability insurance..... What criminal that is doing all the killing is going to do that... none.

OK, for lawful gun owners, liability for what? How many lawsuits do you see not getting paid in those rare instances a legal gun owner misfires a weapon and harms someone?

Cmon, show me some examples of this rampant problem......

You can't because it is not a problem.

Trying to force "insurance" is simply a way to IDENTIFY legal gun owners and make it more difficult to own a firearm to defend ones self... ESPECIALLY the Poor who would be most affected and live in the areas of higher crime.

Not too smart and senseless.

Why don't you just pass a law that criminals cannot have firearms???? LOL


Europeans I assume?

originally posted by: StoutBroux
Something I read about is that ANY product purchase from a gun store would receive the same MCC (merchant category code). So if you bought a gun safe, hunting accessories or targets for practice, it would get the same MCC as if you purchased a gun or ammunition.

So, what if I just stopped in a gun store because it was handy and I bought a 3 Musketeers candy bar in the check-out lane? That would probably show up as a "gun purchase," wouldn't it?

They're getting ridiculous and need to stop this kind of behavior.

...Because ALL criminals have a Discover card. a reply to: infolurker