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.

  • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
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    11 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@lemmy.world
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      11 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.

      • scoobford@lemmy.zip
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        11 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.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          11 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.

  • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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    11 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@yiffit.net
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      11 months ago

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

      Not familiar with gun laws, are you?

    • ikidd@lemmy.world
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      11 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.