Are Credit Cards Tracking Guns and Ammo Sales Now?

All you have to do is tune in to any national media source to see gun control orgs nationwide sing the praises of a decision by a Swiss financial industry standards group to establish a new merchant code, or MCC, for credit cards use in relation to those who sell of guns and ammunition. Groups like the NRA are doing chest thumps to raise money on the news, saying it will create a national gun registry which, of course, will lead to national gun confiscation, they argue.

Well, the truth is, as always, a little bit of both and a lot of neither.

Credit card processors like VISA point out that “When we process a transaction, we have no visibility into what items a consumer is purchasing — this is true irrespective of which MCC applies to a merchant,” and that they “provide our services to everyone, everywhere, so long as they are used for legal purchases.”

For a deep dive– probably the deepest around– into the issue from the standpoint of the firearms industry, check out this Reloaded podcast with Larry Keane from the NSSF.