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.

Mastercard, Visa and American Express initially agreed to implement a standalone code for firearm sellers, but later paused their work on it after receiving blowback from Second Amendment advocates concerned tracking gun purchases would infringe on the rights of legal gun owners.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    385 months ago

    I wonder if just like weed stores, gun stores will start having low/no fee ATMs on sight. Considering how expensive some guns can be it’s got to be cheaper than some of the ATM fees.

    • BombOmOm
      link
      fedilink
      English
      22
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      CC fees for a vendor are normally 3%-9%. Several gun stores I have been to pass the savings onto you if you pay in cash. I have also seen increasingly other vendors doing so as well, including a mechanic and restaurant near me that makes some good shit. Ask about cash discounts if you aren’t aware of any near you.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        75 months ago

        Yes. Unless you use an ATM owned by your bank, the ATM owner will charge a couple of dollars to cover the cost of the ATM.

        If you use an ATM owned by your bank, then it is free.

        • @[email protected]
          cake
          link
          fedilink
          25 months ago

          Some banks will refund you that amount. My credit union and Robinhood spending accounts both do this, and it’s great.

        • Flying Squid
          link
          fedilink
          55 months ago

          Not your specific bank necessarily. Many of the credit unions around here let you use any of their ATMs fee-free as long as you are a member of one of the credit unions.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    -25 months ago

    What a weird law.

    First, as if stores wouldn’t prefer cash to bypass this?

    Second, as if wandering over to another state can’t bypass this?

    Maybe this is the point. Make it inconvenient?

    • @Fal
      link
      fedilink
      English
      155 months ago

      Second, as if wandering over to another state can’t bypass this?

      Not familiar with gun laws, are you?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      15 months ago

      I keep expecting cash to get taken away specifically to allow governments to track absolutely everything. I keep paying in cash for a lot of stuff just to keep it harder for them to justify it, but as usual, I’m pissing into the wind on that one since I’ll see kids sending a couple bucks to each other over etransfer.