Beginning in April, Discover card will become the first credit card issuer to begin tracking gun purchases made by its cardholders. This follows Visa’s decision in September 2022 to create a new category of purchases on credit card statements for guns and ammunition. The Independent Journal Review (IJR) explained, “Anyone using a Discover card to make a purchase in a gun store will have that purchase tracked, beginning in April.” With over 55 million Discover cards issued, there is potential for a huge amount of gun purchases to be tracked. Discover claimed that “We remain focused on continuing to protect and support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy of cardholders.” It remains unseen whether or not Visa and Mastercard will follow suit.
BREITBART: Discover Card to Begin Tracking Gun Purchases in April
By Awr Hawkins; March 2, 2023 ]
Beginning in April 2023, Discover will become the first credit card issuer to track gun purchases made by their cardholders.
On September 11, 2022, Breitbart News noted that Visa caved to pressure from gun control groups and New York Democrats, agreeing to flag gun and ammo purchases via a new sales categorization. The Associated Press observed that Mastercard and other major credit cards also agreed to flag gun sales.
On March 2, 2023, the Independent Journal Review (IJR) reported that Discover will be first among credit card companies to track gun sales, inasmuch as the company will begin doing so in April.
IJR explained, “Anyone using a Discover card to make a purchase in a gun store will have that purchase tracked, beginning in April.”
There are over 55 million Discover cards in usage, so a lot of information on gun purchases can be gathered via that one company.
Reuters pointed out Discover Financial Services was ahead of Visa and Mastercard in February 2023, noting that Discover would “allow its network to track purchases at gun retailers come April, making it the first among its peers to publicly give a date for moving ahead with the initiative, which is aimed at helping authorities probe gun-related crimes.”
Discover told Reuters, “We remain focused on continuing to protect and support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy of cardholders.”
The code for tracking gun purchases was approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in September 2022, and an ISO representative indicated, “The decision to use the new merchant category code is eventually left up to the users in the industry.”
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