New Jersey Assistant Attorneys General: "We're awfully disappointed by the credit card companies."

The Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex isn’t taking the news of America’s credit card issuing companies “pausing” their gun transaction tracking efforts very well. They had dreams of regular Suspicious Activity Reports flooding into ATF from Visa, Mastercard, Discover and Amex, paving the way for eventual de facto registration of all legal gun purchases. And if the processing companies — with some help form gun regulators — could ID “suspicious” buyers, it’s not much of a leap to expect them to (one day) decline their purchases.

But a funny thing happened on the way to privatized Operation Choke Point nirvana. The card processors didn’t like the amount of heat they were feeling from state and federal elected officials over the privacy-destroying plan.

Bills have been introduced in a number of states banning use of the new gun store Merchant Category Code. State Attorneys General were asking for and getting in-person meetings with card processing company executives to register their Second Amendment concerns about purchase tracking. And action on the federal level was being threatened, too.

Never mind the not-so-small detail that none of the companies have the ability to identify exactly what’s being purchased in any particular credit card transaction, a fact that Visa’s former CEO admitted before caving to the anti-gunners’ demands.

So…when the news that the card issuers had decided to halt work on deployment of gun transaction monitoring, the gun control industry collectively lost their sh!t.

Not only were they subjected to the usual and entirely predictable name-calling from the usual suspects— shameful, complicit in future shootings, yadda, yadda, yadda — but now they’re being “urged” to reconsider…this time by a bunch of blue-state anti-gun AGs, let by New Jersey’s Matthew Platkin.

Platkin issued this press release . . .

Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today led a coalition of Attorneys General from across the nation in condemning four of the world’s largest credit card companies —Visa, American Express, Mastercard, and Discover — for walking back their commitment to implement a new merchant code for gun sales that would help prevent mass shootings and curb gun violence.

In September, three of the credit card giants —Visa, American Express, and MasterCard —publicly announced plans to add a new merchant code for gun retailers to the hundreds already used to categorize merchant sales. The creation of the new code had been approved earlier that month by the Switzerland-based International Organization for Standardization to allow financial institutions to better detect and report suspicious activities related to the purchase of firearms and ammunition at standalone gun retail stores. In February 2023, Discover announced that it too would begin using the new code.

But in an abrupt about-face last week, all four companies announced they were putting the brakes on implementing the code, citing legislative bills in several states seeking to bar or limit the use of the voluntary code as a supposed incursion on Second Amendment rights.

Today, Attorney General Platkin joined District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell in leading a multistate coalition of 14 Attorneys General denouncing that decision as unjustifiable.

In a letter sent to the chief executives of Visa, American Express, Mastercard, and Discover today, the Attorneys General accused the companies of capitulating to political pressure cloaked in specious legal arguments and amorphous veiled threats from certain state Attorneys General.

“We see no valid reason why these companies, who process millions of transactions in firearms, ammunitions, gun kits, and more, would renege on their pledge to take simple, commonsense steps to help flag potential gun traffickers and mass shooters,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Applying a merchant code is hardly an invitation to violate the Second Amendment, but failing to apply it is an invitation to criminals to purchase firearm products with impunity and commit violent acts in our communities.  We implore Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and American Express to stand up and make good on their pledge to help protect against gun violence. Their actions can help prevent innocent school children and others from dying needlessly at the hands of a gunman.”

In the letter, the Attorneys General remind the credit card companies that the newly created code for gun stores is hardly an extraordinary development. They’re already using them to categorize basic transactions for everyday items like flowers and groceries, and already have hundreds of retailer codes for everything from stamp shops and wig stores to car rental agencies and various government services.

The new code simply creates a unique merchant category for gun stores, which previously were categorized as “sporting goods stores” or “general merchandise.”

The new code, narrowly tailored so that it applies only to purchases made at independently-owned gun retail shops, will have no bearing on an individual’s ability to lawfully purchase firearms, the letter states. It will, however, help financial institutions and law enforcement agencies identify individuals engaging in unlawful transactions, including the purchase of prohibited firearms such as ghost guns or assault weapons; straw buyers engaged in trafficking; and high-risk purchasers trying to avoid detection in amassing an arsenal that could be used for mass shootings.

Enabling financial institutions to detect and flag threatening patterns and potential criminal activity for law enforcement is nothing new, as they’ve been doing it for decades, the letter points out.

For instance, federal law requires Suspicious Activity Reports when banks “detect a known or suspected violation of Federal law or a suspicious transaction related to a money laundering activity or a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act,” the letter states. And state and federal law enforcement agencies often request evidence relating to firearms or other investigations. But the ability of financial institutions or law enforcement to take steps against criminal gun purchases is hampered by the lack of a dedicated code for firearm and ammunition retailers, the letter asserts.

Last fall, Attorney General Platkin co-led a group of 11 Attorneys General in supporting Visa, American Express, and Mastercard’s publicly stated plans to adopt the new merchant code.

In a letter sent to company executives on September 20, 2022, the Attorneys General commended the credit card industry’s then-willingness to step up and do its part to protect communities and eradicate gun violence across the United States.

In today’s letter, the Attorneys General urged the companies to stay true to that commitment and not cave under political pressure and unfounded legal threats. To do so would set a precedent that invites further interference in lawful, protected business practices, they said.

“We hope and expect you will reconsider your decision and not abandon your public commitments.  Should you fail to do so, your complicity with ongoing needless gun tragedies will lead us to consider further actions,” the letter concludes.

Joining Attorneys General Platkin, Schwalb, Jennings and Campbell in signing the letter are the Attorneys General of California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Nevada, Oregon, and Rhode Island.

So the credit card companied have been made a couple of offers, neither of which they can refuse. Youse (sic) can push ahead with the gun purchase tracking that those in the gun control industry — along with their friends in government and the media — really want to see happen. That, however, seems sure to result in legislation, not to mention “significant confusion and legal uncertainty.”

On the other hand, youse can kill the gun store merchant tracking code and risk what happens when you disappoint capos like Matthew Platkin.

Good luck, credit card company CEOs. It seems it’s not easy doing business in a hyper-politicized world where authoritarians in government are determined to enlist the help of private companies to do what they can’t accomplish through the regular legislative, law-making process.

 

 

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88 COMMENTS

  1. The saddest aspect is the these traitorous AGs cannot be recalled or voted out next time. Their states are locked in to the fraudulent vote production machinery.

    • Michael,

      I highly doubt that the voters of NJ, CA, NY, etc. would vote these fascist clowns out even if there were no fraudulent voting; they elected them in the first place, and these people have been open about their fascist plans for decades. I’m sure you’ve been paying attention to the rush of virtue-signaling, Leftist/fascist governors, AGs, and DAs to get in front of the cameras and talk about all the “new” legislation they are proposing to counter Bruen . . . which SCOTUS will be happy to slap down. This is all a big game to them, and all the want is their 15 minutes of fame, and a shot at the next slot up the ladder at the public trough.

      If their voters are stupid enough to elect them in the first place, they are stupid enough to re-elect them.

      • The irony is that I know very few people who vote Democrat, and the people I interact with also know very few people who vote Democrat. And this is in L.A. Most of the Leftists here seem to be concentrated in blue enclaves, where they can live their lives amongst each other without interacting much with conservatives who might speak some truth and logic to them.

        Once again, I’ll provide the reminder that CA has more conservatives than the populations of most entire States. But once the likes of Jerry Brown got into the Governor’s mansion, the Dems began codifying the election cheating into our laws. Then his acolyte/sycophant Newsom took it to the next level and went full ret@rd with the cheating.

        Never go full ret@rd…

        • Population centers always outnumber the providers. Someone has a fucked up sense of humor.

        • Don’t forget – It is not necessarily who votes but who counts the votes that … counts.

        • It would only take a few leaving to solidly flip several states. Now that would make a difference. California won’t be changing in our lifetime.

        • Don’t disagree with your comment, overall, but (and isn’t there ALWAYS a big ‘but’??) . . . KKKalifornia is most definitely infested with a plague of Leftist/fascist locusts, and they do, overall, outnumber the rational people. Not saying they don’t use systemic fraud to make it easier, but I am confident that CA could continue to elect Leftist/fascist idiots by the drawerful, even without it.

          As for “never going full r@tard”, are you laboring under the pathetic delusion that Gavin Gruesome has any other option? That man (eh, let’s say, ‘somewhat man-like creature’) is dumber than Balaam’s off ass. OTOH, name me a CA Dimocrat who isn’t.

    • “fraudulent vote production machiner”

      A claim tested in court over 60 times and found without merit.

      And now dominion and smartmatic are suing fox, et al, for billions.

      Speech is free, but lies ya gotta pay for.

      • MinorLiar,

        Again, you remain a lying liar who lies.

        “A claim tested in court over 60 times and found without merit.”

        WRONG, lying liar. Please list, SPECIFICALLY, those cases that were decide on the merits of the underlying claim, after presentation of EVIDENCE. Hint: Almost none. These cases were ‘disposed of’ on procedural grounds. List the ones where full presentation of evidence occurred, lying liar.

        And, as my Civil Procedure professor in law school used to say, “Any asshole with $130 (the filing fee, at the time) can sue you.” Get back to us when they recover a single cent, then we can talk about it.

        “Speech is free, but lies ya gotta pay for.”

        And your final lie; if YOU had to pay for YOUR lies, even Soros couldn’t cover your debt. You lie on here on the daily, and the only ‘cost’ you suffer is the relentless derision of your intellectual betters (which pretty much includes all commenters other than dacian the demented, Prince Albert the Fake-Limey ponce, jsled, and red wolf).

        Go back to your circle jerk, before you hurt yourself with that attempted stretch.

        • Trump had his day in court, in local, state, federal district, circuit, right on up to the Supreme Court.

          It was, as the United States Attorney General testified under oath, “bullshit“.

          And Trump and his co-conspirators knew it was bullshit, and continued in their conspiracy to perpetrate a fraud on the people of the United States of America.

          Do you want to see the evidence? OK, here’s some now, evidence of Trump’s lies and deceit:

          “But a report commissioned by his own campaign dated one day prior told a different story: Researchers paid by Trump’s team had “high confidence” of only nine dead voters in Fulton County, defined as ballots that may have been cast by someone else in the name of a deceased person. They believed there was a “potential statewide exposure” of 23 such votes across the Peach State — or 4,977 fewer than the “minimum” Trump claimed.
          In a separate failed bid to overturn the results in Nevada, Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing that 1,506 ballots were cast in the names of dead people and 42,284 voted twice. Trump lost the Silver State by about 33,000 votes.
          The researchers paid by Trump’s team had “high confidence” that 12 ballots were cast in the names of deceased people in Clark County, Nev., and believed the “high end potential exposure” was 20 voters statewide — some 1,486 fewer than Trump’s lawyers said.“

          https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2023/03/17/trump-fraud-report-2020/

        • WaPoo? That’s your source, minor? Sorry citing liars doesn’t prove anything except that you’re a liar, a fool, or both.

    • I am not absolutely certain, but I think the AG of CA can be recalled. The CA AG is an elected position and I think all elected positions in CA are subject to recall. If that is the million dollar question, don’t call me as your expert.

  2. “failing to apply it is an invitation to criminals to purchase firearm products with impunity and commit violent acts in our communities.”
    The A Gs are fools. Criminals don’t make purchases in gun stores, just like they don’t bother themselves with obedience to other laws.

    • Our A-H A.G. here in Mn., along with our schoolteacher governor are too busy burning their way through ” the State’s ” $18B surplus (for The Children) to even respond with the usual condescending form letters when taken to task about signing on to the letter. Discover Card, however, only took HOURS to respond to the email that I sent their way. In the scheme of things, it doesn’t really affect me as I NEVER use any credit cards for any firearm related purchases. I’d suggest using cash exclusively, as I have a distrust of ALL of these companies to actually do what they say.

      • “NEVER use any credit cards for any firearm related purchases“

        Obviously. Why any sane freedom loving citizen would utilize the corporate financial monoliths for freedom purchases is beyond me.

        This should be a non-issue.

        Miner49er doesn’t worship any corporate bureaucracy, but he does recognize that it is our fetish for capitalism that makes the corpratocracy possible. So don’t mind the socialist, you need to look more towards John D Rockefeller and Henry Ford than Karl Marx to find the roots of corporate bureaucracy abuse.

        • MinorLiar,

          “[MinorLiar – there, FIFY] doesn’t worship any corporate bureaucracy . . . ”

          ANNNDDD, he lies again. MinorLiar worships EVERY corporate bureaucracy that advances his Leftist/fascist agenda, and regularly shlobs the nob of every Leftist/fascist politician/pundit.

          And referring to yourself in the third person is not only stupid, it is a sign of serious mental health issues. Get help.

        • “And referring to yourself in the third person is not only stupid, it is a sign of serious mental health issues“

          Maybe you are right, it’s definitely stupid and a sign of serious mental health issues, that’s why Donald Trump should never have been elected president:

          “Of Trump’s many rhetorical habits, perhaps none is more bizarre than his tendency to refer to himself in the third person when discussing seemingly anything. You can watch him do this again and again in the video above.
          On Russia: “Nobody’s been tougher on Russia then Donald Trump.”
          On passing gun legislation: “There’s never been a president like President Trump.”
          On television ratings for “The Apprentice”: “Congratulations Donald!”

          https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/17/third-person-in-chief-how-trump-keeps-referring-himself-third-person/

    • I’d like to know what they consider to be a firearm “product”. Would that include slings, optics, gun oil, patches, left over pumpkins, my shootin’ stump, and a 1000 other things besides a gun or ammo?

      • You can go into a Cabelas and buy a drift boat, meat grinder, six man tent, a buffalo burger or steak, a pair of hip waders and a carbon fibre fly rod and all of these items, since you purchased them at a merchant that ALSO happens to sell those deadly salt rifles that can melt flesh at a thousand yards, would show up as “gun store purchases”. dunno whut these /atsG are smoking but it must be at leat as osychoactive as the stuff they love to bust other folks for smoking. Some Wlmarts still sell guns, too. Would using your cc for buying the family groceries for the week, along with a bottle of hootch, tag you as a member of the category these AtsG are caterwauling over? Seems so.

        • Those were my thoughts exactly. Include Sportsman’s Exchange in that list too. I am sure they sell far more other merchandise than they do guns which they have just recently started to carry. Like so much sigintel, it seems whoever is collecting the data would have more data than they could screen. There is such a thing as too much data.

  3. What “further action” can they take without legislation? Not tracking gun store purchases (whatever those purchases may be) is not illegal.
    Moreover, outside of the fact that the code does not distinguish between guns, ammo or camping and fishing gear, how many guns does it take for a mass killer to do his dirty work? The quick answer is that in most cases it is only one rifle and maybe a pistol, and a number of mags. NONE of those are “suspicious” transactions.” Further, a person coming in and buying a large number of guns is supposed to trigger a red flag already.

    • Pretty sure that the powers-that-be would consider the purchase of 500 rnds of bulk .22 suspicious. (who needs that much ammo?) I expect that they would consider a holster suspicious. (why do you need to carry a gun? sling too, I suppose) I expect that a scope is suspicious. (are you planning on being a sniper?) Bipod? suspicious, target?, suspicious, new grips? suspicious, reloading dies? suspicious, etc. ad naseum.

      • “Mr. Smith, our records show that on March 18th, 2023 that you made a purchase at XYZ Sporting Goods Emporium.
        Since we know that they sold firearms during that time period, we have secured a search warrant to investigate just what that purchase consisted of… step aside, sir.”

        • Just a moment there, Sir. Allow me to produce the receipt for that taransaction. Hmm, where did I put that? Oh yes, HERE it is. This receipt is for a set of four camp chairs, a large Igloo ice chest, and a popcorn popper that you use by holding it above a nice hot fire. If you like I can actually SHOW you the items named hereon. Would you like to see them?
          OK now, bugger off. You’ve got nuttin on me. Scram, beat it, make hourself scarce. NOW. You are a wretched form of tax theft.

        • Tionico: Sorry, I am afraid as you are laying in bed in your skivvies staring at the blinding 5,000 lumen flashlight illuminating you and your wife at 0300 in the morning having had your front door busted in with that magic door opener the SWAT teams love to use, you are not going to be thinking of those witty lines. Do you actually think that the Gestapo is going to politely knock on your door and announce themselves as was required under the Fifth Amendment before the War on Drugs made no-knock warrants in the dead of night just peachy keen? You won’t even know who is shining that light on you because all you can hear are the screams to get on the floor right now. Any neighbor who has the temerity to inquire what is going on will be told that it is the FBI taking down a terrorist cell. Didn’t you notice that an attorney who represented Trump in some minor manner was treated to an early morning no-knock entry by the SWAT team? He was arrested on some picayune administrative detail. He didn’t have a criminal record. He was a member of the bar association, enrolled to practice law in several states and had never made any kind of threat but still got the full SWAT team treatment and nobody raised a single voice in protest — including me. And it was total b.s. I am not even sure he was convicted and he certainly didn’t serve any jail time but still got the full SWAT team treatment. I don’t know if they killed his toy poodle like they have in so many other cases,

      • That’s kind of funny. 500 round of 22LR being suspicious. I remember getting those small buckets that had I believe 1200 rounds in them. Some times I’d get two at a time. It’s easy for my daughter and I to go through 500 close to rounds in a day when we’d go to the range. Of course with the cost of ammo now we’ve slowed down some.

    • “What “further action” can they take without legislation?”

      A fascist Leftist Scum ™ has an imagination… 🙁

    • Friend of mine has eleven children age from ten up to I think 35 or so. He recently bought each of the ones still inder his roof a new Ruger 10/.22. That means eight plus one each for himself and his Bride. I seem to remember him saying he also bought a few for his older grandkids. I would love to watch as he got hauled before the bar to explain to da judge WHAT his plans are for all those rifles…..

      I think he was celebrating their recent move to a state where a man can walk into a gun store and say “I’ll take twelve of those” and no one bats an eye. three 4473’s to fill out, one phone call.

  4. They’ll keep pushing and pushing until we end up with parallel economies. Bring it on. It’s time these monopolies got some competition.

  5. If the a-g wants to stop mass shootings he can cease putting defenseless children and citizens under proven to be criminal magnet Gun Free Zone Signs.

    Incompetent scumbag democRats set up the sitting ducks and when a tragedy occurs they come after your rights. I do not call them democRats for nothing.

    • Well, I understand that their are many other people that call them a lot worse things then that.

    • “democRats”
      Debbie, you are insulting rats the world over. The only mischief they ever get into is burrowing into the occasional grain sack.

  7. Is anybody keeping score? How many AGs on each side (I think both sides have sent letters) and how many “neutral?”

    We need to see a list and make a map.

  8. “In a letter sent to the chief executives of Visa, American Express, Mastercard, and Discover today, the Attorneys General accused the companies of capitulating to political pressure cloaked in specious legal arguments and amorphous veiled threats from certain state Attorneys General.”

    “In today’s letter, the Attorneys General urged the companies to stay true to that commitment and not cave under political pressure and unfounded legal threats. To do so would set a precedent that invites further interference in lawful, protected business practices, they said.”

    That’s rich, Platkin. IOW, “Don’t cave in to their pressure, cave in to ours instead.” How about we let the rule of law decide?

    • ““In today’s letter, the Attorneys General urged the companies to stay true to that commitment”
      How about these A Gs staying true to the oath they took to support and defend the Constitution of the United States?

    • Better yet, let the individual citizen choose what he/she wants and how to pay for it and keep the Gov’t out of it altogether.

    • As I recall Discover is the only one that announced plans to dopt the new codes, all the otehrs announded they “were considering it”. That’s a LONG WAY from a commitment”. These AtsG are lying through their teeth which are as false as the rest of them.

    • Been my policy for a looong time. There is actually a container of cash in my gun safe – I call it “fun money.”

    • They’d love to do away with cash.

      In related news, Janet Yellen said audit rates for individuals making less than $400,000 per year and small businesses will not increase relative to historical levels. Historical levels are at 90% of all audits. Take into account the massive infusion of funding the IRS just got, and let that sink in. This is the same person who promised us WE WOULD NOT HAVE INFLATION, as the Puppet Admin was pushing their massive spending bills. Is she incompetent or a liar? Why is she still employed?

      The very political Federal Reserve held off on raising the interest rates until the Dems could pass their spending bill. Then they had to play catch up with the fastest rate hike in history. Compare and contrast that with their overreach in 2018. It’s all political. The Federal Reserve is a sham operation.

      • As someone who pulls down less than $400k per annum and who has been audited, I can’t tell you how secure this makes me feel. (I can’t tell you because I don’t know how to count up to a negative number. Btw, in the last two months the IRS has sent me a letter telling me that they owe me $1442 and a letter telling me that I owe them $1438. Hmm, is that institutional incompetence (with a bit of rounding error) or do they owe me 4 bucks?)

        • Considering their time, envelops, paper, printing,postage and perhaps other costs- they have already burned up the $4

        • Wish you could demand they send you a check for $1442 and then refuse to pay the $1438 by calling it a mistake.

  10. “If you had the chance to prevent a mass shooting, would you? ”

    Of course you would, or, at least, many would. Most on this site would. Problem is, tracking millions of random credit card purchases, many of which are gonna be for scopes, bipods, nice shiny revolvers and upland game shotguns, will not prevent any mass shootings at all so, at best, it is pointless and at worst, it is that nasty old word, “infringement.”

  11. that press release from Platkin is full of all sorts of disengenous and misleading and false logic ‘coorelation=causation’ and a liars self-righteous crap.

  13. Whenever someone starts that “common sense” BS, you know they are anti 2nd Amendment, conniving, lying rat bastards.

  14. “If you had the chance to prevent a mass shooting, would you? ”

    All depends on who’s at risk. These guys, probably not.

  15. Let’s say they do it. Who would be running down all of these new leads? They would end up asking for a massive expansion of the ATF just like they did with the IRS. They would “promise” not to harass law abiding citizens.

    • Mot likely it would be the eighty thousand new IRS agents, who WILL be armed, they will be minting in the near future.

  16. I will illustrate with a PERFECT equivalency why this firearm credit card merchant code proposal is a monumentally terrible idea:

    Can we all agree that rape is a horrific violent crime and we should do everything possible to eliminate rape in our society?

    Okay then. We must implement a unique credit card merchant code for p0rnography and adult $exual paraphernalia transactions–so that we can flag suspicious purchases of too much of that stuff (which of course indicates an impending rapist) and save countless victims from the horror of rape.

    Imagine how relieved society will be to learn that every time someone purchases p0rn or $ex toys from three sources that police will awaken them at 4:00 a.m. to pounding on his/her door–to confiscate all of his/her computers, televisions, video players, tablets, phones, and $ex toys and prevent that rape that was going to happen.

    • I like the way you think, uncommen, and that worries me somewhat. 🙂

      Good idea on the response, hit their sacred cows and see if they like it…

    • Or…
      Track the sales of all short skirts and tight women’s jeans. All women’s purchases of drinks in clubs and bars. High heels and low cut tops.
      That might set some progressives to howling.

  18. The answer is simple. Pay your balance, call the company and TELL them you won’t use the card until this comes down on the side of freedom and that deviation from the current “pause” path will result in cancellation.

    I did exactly that and went to cash. Amex even has a feature to pause an account if it’s paid. Now, Amex calls me a couple times a week to try to get me back.

    CC companies are vulnerable to cash flow issues on both sides and can also put pressure on the various processors. Use that.

    • “CC companies are vulnerable to cash flow issues on both sides and can also put pressure on the various processors.”

      CC companies have a name for customers that use their cards like that to dodge their anal-rape interest rates.

      They call them deadbeats, and have been known to fire customers for doing that, by dropping them.

      An effective counter-strategy is to be a CC ‘tease’, pay off the big purchases in full each month, and float a tiny purchase or 2. This way, you are using *them*… 🙂

      • Geoff,

        I have two business credit cards and I have been paying off their entire balance every month for several years. Aside from the odd event where I forget to pay full balance on time (about once every 24 months), I never have any balance, never pay any interest, and never pay any fees. So far they have not dropped me. I guess they are content to only collect the 2.5% commission on all of my purchases.

        • Yeah, depends on the business model.

          Not to sound like an asshole here, but I will no matter how nicely I say this, most people’s credit cards are not on the same level as a business card or a high end credit card.

          IRL, most credit cards are issued to “poors” (particularly younger students) specifically to take advantage of them over time. If your card is not such a card, and is issued by a company with a business model other than fucking “poors” for the interest on plugging paycheck-to-paycheck gaps then it will have entirely different policies.

          Amex was extremely appreciative of me calling them as I got to the hospital’s payment window but before I paid off my hospital bills in full and then immediately authorizing a payment in full to them. But Amex doesn’t touch “poors” and has multiple levels of cards to boot.

        • I have several cards, some with high limits, and I once purchased a new pickup truck on one of them. Pay each in full every month, and have never had a bit of fuss from the companies, been doing that for around 20 years now.

      • Why would you care if they think you’re bad and call you a “deadbeat” when their policy openly states that they hate you?

        Why are Conservatives SO fucking against actually fighting back in a way that would hurt the opposition?

        You guys get this right? If you keep up the status quo then you’ll end up with companies heavily slanted to the Left because the Left boycotts and the Right ignores.

        If the company maximizes money at 75% Left, they’ll stay there.

      • Get a credit care from a reputable community oriented Credit Union. Use it any way you choose, you are a MEMBER of the issuing financial institution. They are there to serve YOU. They work with Visa or Mastercard I’d far rather they get my little interest payments than BofA, Wells Embargo, the Chasing Manhattan, or any of the rest of that ilk.

    • Dunno brah, wasn’t so long ago that people right here on TTAG told me that only drug dealers do that.

    • neiowa,

      I try to pay for anything and everything that I can in cash. About the only thing I pay on credit card are Internet orders from vendors where I cannot purchase that item or service locally.

      Several people throughout the last several years have looked at me kind of cock-eyed like I was “off” for doing that. I have a hunch that the proverbial “light bulb” is going to light up over many of their heads in the next few weeks.

      • I have a hunch that the proverbial “light bulb” is going to light up over many of their heads in the next few weeks.

        Are you suggesting this card that I have that basically runs on Credit Suisse CDS’s might not be the best thing EVA!?!

        • Ha ha.

          All fun aside, this is also a reason why it is good to have bank accounts and credit cards with more than one banking institution.

        • Yeah, but you can’t actually have accounts like that according to trustworthy news sites like Breitbart.

          You must play the game the way the authoritarians say, and therefore you must lose. Those are the rules according to the Right.

          I didn’t make the rules, I just report on ’em.

        • Uncommon, my only rule is to not have a credit card from my own bank. The credit card companies I use listen up when they are telling me I can’t do this and I have to do that, when I inform them that I won’t pay the bill. They can’t just move it from my account since they don’t HAVE my account!

  20. ag’s, credit card a******s, & other trackers – …a lot of things can happen to dog s**t.

  21. Blue state Marxists lie through their teeth. What I can’t tell is if they actually believe the horse pucky they’re peddling after the lies become the norm. They would burn out a lie detector machine.

  23. We see no valid reason why these companies
    How about “Because we no longer want to”? There’s the first big hint of authoritarianism. And it’s one we’ve been dealing with in this country for decades (if not a century). I shouldn’t need a reason NOT to do something.

    Their actions can help prevent innocent school children and others from dying needlessly at the hands of a gunman.
    No, actually, it won’t do that at all. It wouldn’t have stopped the Uvalde gunman. Unless you’re going to just flag any purchase over $1,000.

    already using them to categorize basic transactions for everyday items like flowers
    And you’re not trying to basically outlaw flowers. Yet. But someday you might, and I expect you to use those codes to help you do it. Those codes are fine if they’re in aggregate for marketing purposes (“More people are buying flowers 3 days before Valentine’s instead of one day prior” and other silly marketing number-crunching) or for your own personal use (“We’re spending way too much on flowers, lately, hun; we need to cut back”). And if it’s for personal use, that information should not be considered “not private because it’s held by a third party.” It’s information that should only have meaning to you, and therefore should be sacrosanct, regardless of where the data is held.

    as they’ve been doing it for decades
    Yes. And I’m of the opinion that it’s a violation of the 4th and 5th Amendments for that entire time. Your interactions with your bank should be under almost the same seal of confidentiality as that of a doctor or lawyer.
    (I would love to have the wherewithal to start a bank. That would be one of the offerings: we have a privacy agreement that cannot be breached except by a specific warrant.)

  24. “failing to apply [the credit card merchant code] is an invitation to criminals to purchase firearm products with impunity and commit violent acts in our communities.”

    Oh, sure. So a criminal who somehow wasn’t deterred or stopped by the fact that all gun stores conduct Federal background check, will somehow be deterred by a credit card code?
    How stupid are these politicians?
    Or rather, how stupid do they think we are, and do they think we’ll actually believe their lies?
    The real reason they want the new merchant code isn’t to stop or deter criminals, it’s to deter law-abiding people from excercising their rights and adding to their gun collection.

    Dictators gotta dictate. It’s what they do.

  25. Having worked in a FFL for years, I’m fairly certain that few criminals would use plastic to buy the gun they plan to unload in Chicago, NYC or some other anti-gun nirvana.

    Additionally, tracking gun buyers will do nothing to stop mass shootings as the NJ AG claims. A mass shooter can commit a heinous act with a single firearm. Price is meaningless. The S&W M&P-15 can shoot the same rate and hold the same quantity of ammo as a Daniel Defense DDM4 or a FN SCAR. The credit card code will only be tied to a person and dollar amount. I could buy one gun costing $5,000 or 5 costing $1,000 each or 10 costing $500 each. If they are long guns, there’s no multi form for the ATF.

    The only purpose of this code is to identify gun buyers so they can be targeted.

  27. Are the pro-gun control attorney generals ready to pay the legal fees and fines that will be hoisted upon the credit card companies if they were to implement a tracking code?

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