Banks know that normal Americans aren’t going to stand for banks blocking purchases of guns at stores using debit or credit cards. But if they market it as “identifying mass shooters before they strike,” suddenly it seems a lot less insidious to the low-information crowd. In fact, they might even support such a proposal.
However, one problem (one of many) is that “pre-crime” isn’t a tool of law enforcement in America. At least not yet. Still, we’re talking about guns here, and guns are icky. So that justifies virtually any violation of privacy or constitutional rights for some. You know, the same simple-minded types who “buy back” guns from law-abiding gun owners and claim it’s disarming violent criminals and making cities safer.
This ploy is one of the latest gun control schemes employed by the gun control industry in cooperation with businesses. The government has struggled to enact gun control laws and many of the laws that are already on the books are now threatened by the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision. So the government is increasingly turning to business to get the job done for them.
But if private companies and mega-corporations commit to gun control, well, that’s a convenient work-around for those seeking to make it harder for law-abiding citizens to arm themselves. That is, of course, the real motivation here. The first step was the creation and adoption of the new gun store transaction code for processing credit card transactions.
Bloomberg lays out how the scheme works:
Banks are developing technology to identify potential mass shooters, according to a CEO backing the push to get credit-card companies to more closely track gun purchases.
“Detection scenarios” are in the works that, if triggered, would prompt banks to file a Suspicious Activity Report to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Amalgamated Bank Chief Executive Officer Priscilla Sims Brown said at the New York Times DealBook conference Wednesday.
“We’re at the very early stages of this — this particular code just got approved in October, so those detection scenarios are still being brought together,” Brown said. “But as this is implemented, those scenarios will be used.”
The strategy would mirror ways banks try to identify and stop fraudsters from using customers’ funds.
For now, at least, the credit card companies don’t know exactly what you’re purchasing at a merchant. That may change soon as this program gets farther down the road.
If it does, anyone buying a gun with a credit or debit card will no doubt have their “social credit” score dinged. Buy enough guns — or the “wrong” kind — and you could be branded as a “potential mass shooter,” reported to…someone…and targeted for a detailed investigation.
Welcome to the future.