U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Dozens of NY lawmakers want Mastercard, American Express to flag suspicious gun store purchases,” Gothamist reported Sunday. “There are unique [merchant category] codes for tent and awning shops, wig and toupee stores — even separate categories for antique shops, secondhand stores and pawn shops. But there are no codes just for gun retailers.”
“People buying guns legally with no intent to harm people … would have ‘absolutely nothing to worry about,’” State Senator Zellnor Myrie assures anyone dumb enough to believe him. “And frankly, I’m not sure why anyone would be opposed to this, outside of trying to avoid controversy or the politics.”
Well, no one is trying to ban or confiscate tents, awnings, and toupees, are they? And while we’re told the reporting is based on “patterns” and doesn’t go down to the SKU level, just wait for this to be established. The grabbers always take what they can get under the “common sense” ploy and then come back for more. Does anyone really think the next demand won’t be for a “weapon of war” code?
And since we’re being frank, how about we take a look at Myrie’s record of trying to do just that, as well as his being “honored” as “lawmaker of the year” by the Bloomberg gun-grab groups for trying to destroy manufacturers and dealers through lawsuits?
I’ll give Myrie credit for not being stupid, senator, which leaves only one alternative explanation for his claim that he’s “not sure why anyone would be opposed to this.” I’ll explain for those this is new to by referring to “Proposed Banking Merchant Category Codes Latest Backdoor Ploy to ID Gun Owners,” my August 1 article for Firearms News.
“Banks can use the data to help mass shootings [!] and purchases in advance without infringing on Second Amendment rights. There’s no infringement here,” CNBC apparatchik Andrew Ross Sorkin gushes following his interview with Priscilla Sims Brown, president & CEO of Amalgamated Bank (see the embedded video, below).
Really? So banks spying on purchase patterns and reporting them to law enforcement is no cause for concern? To paraphrase Bill Clinton, it depends upon what the meaning of the word “infringing” is. Perhaps Sorkin is unaware of recent warrantless fishing expeditions by ATF trying to intimidate gun owners to show them their guns? Or of going after forced reset trigger owners?
He probably is and doesn’t care. A transcript of the full interview shows they were there to establish that Visa and Mastercard “have been against creating a merchant category code for gun stores.”
“Well, they’ve given several reasons,” Brown replied. “We think every one of those reasons would be something that could be managed.”
Putting public pressure on major “mainstream” banks to get on board with Amalgamated Bank’s agenda is one way it’s being “managed.”
Its “agenda”?
Per The New York Times, Amalgamated, majority owned by Workers United, “has aggressively carved out a position as the left’s private banker, leveraging deep connections with the Democratic establishment.”
Workers United, in turn, is a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) affiliate, which, per The Washington Free Beacon, “rakes in millions from Dem campaigns, liberal orgs.”
And the SEIU, in turn, has organized rallies and marched in solidarity with communists. Just in case anyone’s wondering who the “mainstream” Democrat leadership is in financial bed with.
Now, using “time tested” techniques of assigning “social credits” to those who promote the Party line combined with the threat of public “struggle sessions” for those to be humiliated and purged, the mainstream card companies have been put on notice: Start snitching on gun owners or be “canceled.”
Think of it as a “public/private partnership.” Actually, think of it as economic fascism.
Just as with “social media” being able to impose censorship benefiting the regime without the courts considering it a First Amendment violation, so, too will private financial actors be able to initiate Second Amendment infringements that work in favor of government violence monopolist goals – not to mention amass quite the database there.
It’s interesting who Vote Smart shows to be Zellnor Myrie’s “top contributor.”
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
