Credit card giants Visa, Mastercard, and American Express will start categorizing sales of guns from gun shops using a new merchant code from the International Organization for Standardization. Previously, individual sales from gun stores were categorized as “general merchandise.”
And:
Now, the gun control lobby will go to banks and start pressuring them not to take credit card sales from gun shops. And isn’t it convenient that the banks can now easily identify gun sales by the code that was just approved by the credit card companies? Visa, Mastercard, and other credit card companies are middlemen between the merchant and the bank, and pressuring large banks to refuse to honor credit card sales would potentially devastate the firearms industry.
Most people should have enough “spare” cash on hand for a SHTF situation which can be used for this purpose, but I appreciate that in these times of Bidenflation, that may not be the case.
My suggestion: assuming that you don’t have enough “ready” cash on hand to make the purchase, draw cash from your credit card (up to whatever the monthly limit is) until you have enough to buy the gun you want. Use the first cash withdrawal to “hold” the item, and pay the balance when you’ve collected enough. Most gun stores will do this for you, as I recall.
There are all sorts of other ways to circumvent this (e.g. private sales between individuals), and I welcome suggestions in Comments.
After November, let’s start a concerted lobbying effort for Congress to write a law that disallows this practice, as an infringement on the Second Amendment.
I’m saying all this because all my other thoughts are a great deal blacker and more, shall we say, drastic, but let’s not go there.
Lefties will never learn that over-regulation often leads to no regulation. People will always find a way around the rules, and the more strict and unreasonable the rules seem – the more people tend to rationalize non-compliance. (e.g. alcohol prohibition in the 1920s)
This weekend I am going to the BassPro shop in southern IN and buying a Henry .22 lever rifle and horse scabbard and a western style .22 revolver and holster. I will be paying cash for that stuff.
People should be erasing ALL debt now.
Or, if so inclined, cashing out all credit cards and heading for the hills.
As usual there’s lots of confusion here. Some of the articles I read suggested that all purchases from a retailer that sells guns would be classed the same way as opposed to the general merchandise bought at the local Safeway. Academy Sports sells guns and ammunition. Soccer Mom goes to Academy and buys a uniform for her transgender transexual whatever. Since that purchase was made at a “gun” store is mom on the list? Another story suggested that ammunition purchases in “large quantities” would be flagged. My eye doctor shoots skeet and goes through 12 gauge shells in car load lots. That’s suspicious especially because he’s a Republican and goes to church. How about .22s? Nobody “needs” 500 rounds of .22 which are dangerous at ranges over a mile (it says so on the box) and are the preferred round of organized crime hit men everywhere. How many rounds will put you on the list? I’m sure that I’ve exceeded that magic and unknown number many times over. I still have enough bullets, brass, powder and primers to crank out a few more rounds and that stuff doesn’t go bad.
One suggestion I read on another site was to use pre-paid cards purchased with cash to make purchases where you need a credit card.
I don’t know what’s in your wallet, but cash advances against a credit card are generally at interest rates that would make a loan shark blush. That should be your last option. If you don’t have the gun you need now, it’s really pretty late to be getting to the party. Your SHTF gun should already be in your hands.
Now the next gun you “want” is a different story, and that’s why you simply save up over several months.
What the credit card deal is really going hurt is online purchases of ammo, gun parts, accessories, etc. And if you just gotta have another gun from a local store, put the damn groceries on the credit card and use that cash for a gun purchase.
If you are purchasing ammunition in bulk online, there is already a record of it. Because whoever is selling to you has to deliver it to someone and also wants to promote its next sale etc to you. So, that part is nothing new.
I’ve been starting to buy more things with cash because there is an electronic record of everything you buy with a credit or debit card.
Fortunately, I nherited most of my firearms so pretty much no paper trail there.
Inherited not nherited
Black Thoughts!
There is a certain degree of finality in using Extreme Prejudice…
Realistically, all the credit card companies and the feds were already able to easily determine that you were buying arms and ammunition with your credit cards. Do you imagine they needed a special little category code to do that? In other words, the ONLY difference now is that they have advertised this change as a way of chilling the market as people are now more afraid to buy stuff. Anyone imagining that the financial companies and the fedgov don’t know exactly what you have and where you have it is a naive fool. If they still have you spinning valuable cycles on beating their surveillance and anti-privacy system, they have succeeded. Focus and buy the stuff you will need in the most expeditious way possible. You might want to hide it from your neighbors, but trying to hide it from TPTB is a waste of time and energy.
Why do I find myself always seeing things differently from the views of Kim and friends? I see a silver lining to this cloud.
Increasing the cash transactions at gun stores will increase the cash on hand at these stores. Increased cash will draw the attention of dumbass thugs who will try to rob these stores with greater frequency. Employees and owners at these stores are knowledgeable about firearms, have access to quality arms, and (particularly if the store is also a range) can practice frequently. This combination of facts should result in many more dumbass thugs getting shot.
Except for the inconvenience of having to do cash transactions, what’s not to like here?
This is an end run around the ‘no national database of guns / owners’.
What will be built is a sortable, siftable LIST of gun and/or ammunition buyers.
They do not care how much ammunition you bought or the caliber / gauge,
or what firearm pistol, rifle, shotgun you bought.
It will be a LIST of GUNS and WHO OWNS THEM along with ADDRESSES.
What do you think those recent ‘visits’ you saw in the news about attempts to
coerce people into PROVING THEIR OWN INNOCENCE were ? They were and are
TRIAL RUNS imho !!
And that my friends is where all of this is headed !!
Wallace,
What are the “visits” you’re referring to?
JQ
This was video recorded in two cases I saw.
2 or 3 weeks ago there were several stories on MSM
where 2 ATF agents along with a local police officer or
local sheriff or deputy would show up at someone’s house.
The resident was be told that the agents were there
because the resident had recently bought 2 or more
firearms, or bought ‘something’ that triggered this type
of ‘investigation’ by the ATF.
All the resident had to do was prove that they still had the
firearms in their position by showing the agents the firearms.
‘Just show us that e firearms in question – I have the serial
numbers right here on this form – and we’re out of here’ !
What could be simpler. No Warrant, no charges, no arrest
just fishing !!
The 2nd incident I saw involved a woman who had called the police because a man at here door would not leave her alone
and go away. A police officers showed up and told the
individual to get one the ground. ‘Ain’t happening’ was the response from the man who was in plainclothes and kept
digging in his pocket to get his ‘creds’ to show the officer
who had him at gunpoint ! When the second police officer
showed up, the man finally got on the ground and from
appearances never knew just how damn close he came to
getting shot playing ‘mine’s bigger than yours’ with 2
officers. This individual was also asking the woman about
recent purchases and wanted proof that the items were still
possessed by the woman’s husband or boyfriend I think.
Also in this case, the individual was apparently alone for this
particular ‘inquiry’.
In both cases it was claimed that this was normal procedure,
perfectly harmless and was to reduce straw purchases.
Draw your own conclusions. I did !
P.S.
This is all ‘from memory’ & YMMV
My memory isn’t what it used to be but I keep tryin’!
The MCC code identifies the store, not the items purchased. It does not tell whether you bought a shotgun or a microwave at Walmart. It does not tell whether you bought ammo or camping gear at an outfitter.
They’ve added a code specifically for “gun store”, but that never has been difficult to find out. No doubt they intend to misuse this tool to try to deny banking services to “gun stores”, but it’s too blunt a tool to accurately identify gun purchasers, and it will affect a good many people that don’t buy guns but do shop for other things at gun stores and outfitters, while not touching Walmart and other stores that sell everything. (Not if the gun bigots know what’s good for them!)