The New York Times published an article on Monday suggesting that credit card companies surveil cardholders who purchase firearms.
The NYT piece, authored by Andrew Ross Sorkin, noted that a number of mass shooters purchased their weapons and ammo using credit cards. Banks are required to alert federal authorities to purchases exceeding $10,000, but there are rules preventing them from seeing precisely what goods users are purchasing.
Nonetheless, NYT’s Sorkin suggests that banks track purchases at sporting goods stores and gun shops and prevent cardholders from purchasing multiple firearms “in a short period of time” and report unusual spending patterns.
I’ve been working on this NYT project for months: Many of the deadliest mass shootings in the US were carried out by killers who used credit cards to buy high-powered weapons+ammunition that they couldn’t otherwise afford. No one was watching. https://t.co/IU2wGj4P7F
— Andrew Ross Sorkin (@andrewrsorkin) December 24, 2018
Nick Confessore, another NYT reporter, insinuated that banks and credit card companies have some responsibility for mass shootings because they “financed” them.
Banks and credit card companies unwittingly financed mass shootings in Orlando, Las Vegas, and Parkland, @andrewrsorkin shows in a special investigation.
They also have the ability to flag mass shooters before they kill—if they use it.https://t.co/FT0bhq1Ks7— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) December 24, 2018
“Banks already have to report suspicious transactions; it would be easy to also report aberrant gun purchases by a possible mass shooter,” Joe Nocera, a Bloomberg Opinion writer.
This is a tremendously important story by @andrewrsorkin . Banks already have to report suspicious transactions; it would be easy to also report aberrant gun purchases by a possible mass shooter. This could save lives. Cc: @KLemkau https://t.co/LK1A8avdUC
— Joe Nocera (@opinion_joe) December 24, 2018
How Credit Cards Are Used to Finance Mass Shootings —and what can be done about it, excellent piece by @andrewrsorkin https://t.co/UiNb5SuNy7
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) December 24, 2018
Sorkin expressed little concern about the privacy of consumers, instead leaving that to the credit card companies and banks he spoke to for the article.
“We do not believe Visa should be in the position of setting restrictions on the sale of lawful goods or services,” Amanda Pires, a Visa spokeswoman, told NYT. “Our role in commerce is to efficiently process, protect and settle all legal payments. Asking Visa or other payment networks to arbitrate what legal goods can be purchased sets a dangerous precedent.”
MasterCard similarly touted the “privacy of [cardholders’] purchasing decisions.”
The article does not confront the possibility that tracking credit card purchases could backfire by encouraging would-be mass shooters to use cash — thereby making their purchases even more discrete.
There are also no suggestions as to what constitutes an “abnormal” gun purchase, such as how many guns, how much ammo, what cost, or what frequency.
Sorkin brushed off some of the criticisms of his article on Twitter, insisting that tracking purchases is about “saving kids” and not infringing on the ability of law-abiding citizens to purchase firearms.
The point has to be to make it more challenging for a mass killer to succeed. If it takes longer or they can’t buy all the weapons they want or they get a knock at the door — all of those things could foil or reduce the chance of people getting killed. This is about saving kids.
— Andrew Ross Sorkin (@andrewrsorkin) December 24, 2018
Some banks and credit card companies have already implemented policies that make it more difficult for customers to purchase firearms. (RELATED: Bank of America Sponsors Gun-Control Panel)
In June, Intuit abruptly stopped processing some transactions related to firearms, including a safety training class and gun-related clothing and coffee mugs. Intuit claimed the transactions violated its “face-to-face” policy for gun purchases, despite the fact that many of the guns purchased were sent to federally-licensed firearms dealers for customers to pick up after they completed a background check.
