Will your bank or credit union allow you to use their debit/credit card to buy guns or ammo?

[Suck My Glock]

Here is an example of a trial balloon being floated to see how the sheeple respond. A credit union in the relatively pro-2A state of Georgia has adopted the policy that it is prohibited to use a card issued by them to buy "ammunition, firearms or firearms parts or related accessories".

In my opinion, this is an obvious testing of the waters to see how severe a backlash is produced by such faggotry. If the negative response is insufficiently severe, the powers pulling the strings on that institution will then get the message that they can successfully export the policy to other institutions. So, while this is occurring in Georgia and not Arizona,...yet,...it is something we can expect to present itself here soon enough.

https://redstate.com/wardclark/2024/01/15/georgia-credit-union-bars-customers-from-purchasing-guns-with-their-own-money-n2168758

 

[QuietM4]

Good luck with that. No retailer transmits any data relating to what items are being paid for via any type of card, so it is impossible to do this with any kind of accuracy. What are they going to do? Not allow any purchases from Amazon? I buy firearms related accessories and items from Amazon all the time. It is practically and realistically impossible to implement such a policy.

It’s never going to happen. It’s discrimination on a Constitutional scale. That would be like saying Visa won’t allow you to use their payment system for a subscription to The New York Times…blatantly unconstitutional.

 

[Suck My Glock]

If I recall correctly, I believe credit card processors assign classifications to their retailer customers, placing them in categories of types of industries. As such, gun-related retailers have a certain transaction code as part of the processing as it occurs. If I am remembering that right, that would mean it is a simple task for someone like this credit union in Georgia to simply pre-reject all such transactions from retailers with a certain industry code.

 

[Doc]

Good luck with that. No retailer transmits any data relating to what items are being paid for via any type of card, so it is impossible to do this with any kind of accuracy. What are they going to do? Not allow any purchases from Amazon? I buy firearms related accessories and items from Amazon all the time. It is practically and realistically impossible to implement such a policy.

It’s never going to happen. It’s discrimination on a Constitutional scale. That would be like saying Visa won’t allow you to use their payment system for a subscription to The New York Times…blatantly unconstitutional.

I share your position however others do not.

The wheels were in motion last year, but you don’t have to take my word, here’s some other people putting it out there.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/11/business/visa-mastercard-american-express-gun-purchase-code/index.html



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/10/guns-credit-card-trackable


https://www.npr.org/2022/09/15/1123059843/credit-card-code-gun-sales-visa-mastercard-american-exrpess



https://www.npr.org/2022/09/15/1123059843/credit-card-code-gun-sales-visa-mastercard-american-exrpess


And the “it will NEVER happen” happened with pictures of the denial from the POS screen.
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/the-state/transaction-declined-credit-card-companies-reportedly-blocking-firearm-purchases


Buy MORE ammo

 

[QuietM4]

Hold on....let me get my pallet of salt to go with those "news" stories that are all over 1 year old. The "MCC" re-categorization has not occured. Fear mongering at best.

And as to the OP article, no transactions have been stopped. There is no realistic method with which to "block" firearms or ammo sales...again, no merchant transmits any data relating to items purchased. Is the credit union going to block all purchases from Bass Pro, Cabela's, etc? What if am buying a pair of pants from Bass Pro...BLOCKED?

I am 100% positive customers of that credit union have purchased tobacco products, knives, and sexually oriented materials since the credit unions policy changes...all are "against" the new policy. They will have about as much luck as the IRS attempting to collect sales tax from a garage sale.

If only this country had some type of untraceable currency....like make it out of paper, or something similar....maybe linen. That way, it would be easy to carry around in a pocket.

 

[QuietM4]

If I recall correctly, I believe credit card processors assign classifications to their retailer customers, placing them in categories of types of industries. As such, gun-related retailers have a certain transaction code as part of the processing as it occurs. If I am remembering that right, that would mean it is a simple task for someone like this credit union in Georgia to simply pre-reject all such transactions from retailers with a certain industry code.

So, I wouldn't be able to go to Cabela's and buy candy or beef jerky? This is a completely unenforceable policy. No credit card processing company is going to block all transactions from Amazon, Bass Pro, Cabela's, Walmart, Scheels, Academy Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods, etc. They would lose hundreds of millions, if not billions, in processing fees. Not going to happen.

 

[Suck My Glock]

So, I wouldn't be able to go to Cabela's and buy candy or beef jerky? This is a completely unenforceable policy. No credit card processing company is going to block all transactions from Amazon, Bass Pro, Cabela's, Walmart, Scheels, Academy Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods, etc. They would lose hundreds of millions, if not billions, in processing fees. Not going to happen.

I will be very happy if you are correct, and I certainly want you to be. But I can't get out of my head the old saying, "You don't put on a condom unless you're gonna f**k."

 

[BigNate]

I know that there is some classification data - as some of the outsourced payroll and expense management providers that we've been looking at have touted the ability to auto-sort / classify expenses (at least preliminarily).

I may be an outlier here, but I'm libertarian enough that I'd not want the government dictating to a credit union or bank that they must handle certain transactions if they choose not to handle them. Private institutions should have the right to service whatever needs they want to service. If I'm the owner of a private bank, and I believe deeply that abortion ends the life of an unborn child, I don't want to be told that I must accept the business of the local abortion clinic. I should not be forced to provide services to someone who is going to use those services to facilitate something that I find morally objectionable. If I feel strongly enough about it to lose the business, that's between me, God, and perhaps my shareholders. The only exception I make in this space is around discrimination against folks based on ethnicity or gender (the scientific stuff - not the nutball "choose to be whatever you want to be" stuff). Refusing to serve a client because they were born a woman or with more melanin in their skin than I have is something that I think society has a role in preventing.

That said - I would never take my business to a bank that discriminates in that way. I quit buying sporting goods at Dicks (and stopped suggesting that the teams that I coach buy stuff there - which I had done previously) when they got all anti-AR and decided to virtue signal in that space. I have literally never spent another penny there. In fact, I was shopping for a golf club as a gift for my brother and was about to buy a fairly expensive club at in a shop called "Golf Galaxy" in Glendale. I asked a question about him returning it if it was not what he wanted and they noted that he could return it there or at any Dicks. I thanked the guy and told him to void the transaction - and explained that I didn't by from dicks... because of their anti-gun position...

If a credit union in rural GA decides to make that statement - well - good luck to them... hopefully every gun owner that banks there pulls their business. If that happens, whomever made the decision will pay. If it is a "mutual" credit union (I believe that some of them are businesses owned by the depositors), then before pulling money, every gun owner depositor should attend the next board meeting and demand the removal of the person who made that call. Voting with one's wallet can be effective. Punish the institutions that virtue signal that way and they'll eventually get the message.

As long as you don't prevent the next guy from starting a credit union / investment bank that specializes in meeting the needs of gun owners or gun businesses - I'm OK. Let the market meet demand, and punish those who choose to thumb their nose at business.

My 2 cents.

 

[deadshot556]

I've haven't had any issues.

 

[QuietM4]

I've haven't had any issues.

And I don't think anyone else has, either....it's all more fear mongering.

One example of one guy getting "declined" means nothing. Show me hundreds of examples, and I'll start believing the hype.

 

[MarkItZero]

So, I wouldn't be able to go to Cabela's and buy candy or beef jerky? This is a completely unenforceable policy. No credit card processing company is going to block all transactions from Amazon, Bass Pro, Cabela's, Walmart, Scheels, Academy Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods, etc. They would lose hundreds of millions, if not billions, in processing fees. Not going to happen.

I will be very happy if you are correct, and I certainly want you to be. But I can't get out of my head the old saying, "You don't put on a condom unless you're gonna f**k."

https://youtu.be/dE5JsUy6W98?feature=shared

 

[Doc]

I’m w QM4; paper currency and STFU usually goes a long way.

Jordan said the slide instructs financial institutions to query for transactions using certain MCC codes like "3484: Small Arms," "5091: Sporting and Recreational Goods and Supplies," and the keywords "Cabela’s" and "Dick’s Sporting Goods," "Bass Pro Shops," among others.

Key Bank declined to comment.

https://judiciary.house.gov/media/in-the-news/alarming-surveillance-feds-asked-banks-search-private-transactions-terms-maga

 

[mallic]

Just going to throw this out here for the worrywarts. It is 100% illegal to buy marijuana with credit/debit in AZ. And despite that, weed shops have gotten around that by simply putting ATMs in their lobbies or using "virtual atms" where you run your card at a terminal there and they just spit out the change you would have gotten if you withdrew at an atm. I think we are going to be fine.

 

[MarkItZero]

Just going to throw this out here for the worrywarts. It is 100% illegal to buy marijuana with credit/debit in AZ. And despite that, weed shops have gotten around that by simply putting ATMs in their lobbies or using "virtual atms" where you run your card at a terminal there and they just spit out the change you would have gotten if you withdrew at an atm. I think we are going to be fine.

I don't think AZ cares if you buy your weed with cash, debit or credit. So long as the state gets its cut. It's the feds that scare off the credit and debit processors.

 

[mallic]

Just going to throw this out here for the worrywarts. It is 100% illegal to buy marijuana with credit/debit in AZ. And despite that, weed shops have gotten around that by simply putting ATMs in their lobbies or using "virtual atms" where you run your card at a terminal there and they just spit out the change you would have gotten if you withdrew at an atm. I think we are going to be fine.

I don't think AZ cares if you buy your weed with cash, debit or credit. So long as the state gets its cut. It's the feds that scare off the credit and debit processors.

Fair point, but what I was trying to illustrate still stands.

 

[brandonsmash]

Just going to throw this out here for the worrywarts. It is 100% illegal to buy marijuana with credit/debit in AZ. And despite that, weed shops have gotten around that by simply putting ATMs in their lobbies or using "virtual atms" where you run your card at a terminal there and they just spit out the change you would have gotten if you withdrew at an atm. I think we are going to be fine.

I don't think AZ cares if you buy your weed with cash, debit or credit. So long as the state gets its cut. It's the feds that scare off the credit and debit processors.

Yes, the credit processors can't process transactions for goods or services that are federally illegal.