XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.privacy   
   From: hand.feeding.democrats.shit@msnbc.com   
      
   In article    
   "max headroom"  wrote:   
   >   
   > hotair.com   
   >   
   > A credit card industry group has approved a plan to track sales of guns and   
   ammo   
   > with a new merchant code   
   > John Sexton   
   >   
   > CBS News has a big scoop this afternoon. The industry group that sets   
   > international standards for credit card companies has decided to create a new   
   > code for the purchase of guns and ammo that, while not identifying the exact   
   > purchases, will separate those items from the more generic category they had   
   > been lumped in with previously.   
   >   
   >   Merchant category codes are made up of four digits and are used across all   
   > sorts of industries as a means to classify retailers, while not revealing   
   > individual product purchases. Credit card companies currently lump firearm   
   > retailers in with other outlets, classifying them as either "5999:   
   Miscellaneous   
   > retail stores" or "5941: Sporting Goods Stores."   
   >   
   >   With a new code for firearms merchants, potentially suspicious purchasing   
   > patterns could be flagged to law enforcement - much the same way banks and   
   > credit unions made more than 1.4 million suspicious activity reports in 2021   
   for   
   > other types of transactions that might suggest anything from identity theft   
   to   
   > terrorist financing.   
   >   
   > This is part of a plan being pushed by congressional Democrats after   
   Amalgamated   
   > Bank of New York, a progressive bank that often involves itself in social   
   > issues, made repeated attempts to push for the new code, all of which were   
   > denied.   
   >   
   >   A group of congressional Democrats is urging credit card companies to track   
   > suspect firearm and ammunition purchases as a means to identify and stop gun   
   > crime, according to a letter obtained by CBS News Thursday.   
   >   
   >   The letter, drafted by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep.   
   > Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania and signed by over a dozen of their   
   colleagues,   
   > urges the CEOs of Mastercard, American Express and Visa to back the creation   
   of   
   > a merchant category code for gun and ammunition retailers - a measure the   
   > industry had initially resisted, according to an investigation by CBS News in   
   > June.   
   >   
   >   "The creation of a new [merchant category code] for gun and ammunition   
   retail   
   > stores would be the first step towards facilitating the collection of   
   valuable   
   > financial data that could help law enforcement in countering the financing of   
   > terrorism efforts," the letter says.   
   >   
   > So it looks like the congressional pressure worked. The new code has been   
   > approved but it sounds like Visa is not happy about it even as the CEO of   
   > Amalgamated Bank is celebrating.   
   >   
   >   In a letter obtained by CBS News, sent by Visa on Wednesday in response to   
   > congressional Democrats who supported the plan, the company said, "We believe   
   > that asking payment networks to serve as a moral authority by deciding which   
   > legal goods can or cannot be purchased sets a dangerous precedent."   
   >   
   >   Visa wrote, "We understood Amalgamated Bank's request to be justified, at   
   > least in part, by an interest in blocking transactions that would fall under   
   > such a new category, and Visa's rules expressly prohibit blocking of legal   
   > transactions under an MCC.".   
   >   
   >   "We all have to do our part to stop gun violence," said Priscilla Sims   
   Brown,   
   > President and CEO of Amalgamated Bank. "And it sometimes starts with illegal   
   > purchases of guns and ammunition. The new code will allow us to fully comply   
   > with our duty to report suspicious activity and illegal gun sales to   
   authorities   
   > without blocking or impeding legal gun sales. This action answers the call of   
   > millions of Americans who want safety from gun violence and we are proud to   
   have   
   > led the broad coalition of advocates, shareholders, and elected officials   
   that   
   > achieved this historic outcome."   
   >   
   > Priscilla Sims Brown recently appeared on CNBC where she was asked about her   
   > effort to push the new category code for guns. "If we did have a merchant   
   code   
   > for gun stores we could detect patterns that would indicate that there had   
   been   
   > something unusual going on," Brown said. She says all the banks will do is   
   file   
   > a suspicious activity report at which point it would be up to local or   
   federal   
   > law enforcement to act on those reports (she wasn't very clear about who   
   would   
   > be doing the follow up).   
   >   
   > If that's so, why is Visa concerned about attempts to block transactions   
   using   
   > these codes? I just checked and so far Elizabeth Warren hasn't posted any   
   tweets   
   > celebrating this outcome. She'll probably get around to it this weekend.   
   >   
      
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