Break out your tinfoil hat – it’s time to dip your toes into the conspiracy theory pool. Well, not really…because this conspiracy theory is now reality – banks now know when you shop at gun stores. Big brother knows when you buy guns and ammo and could use it against you.
Until now, all gun and ammo sales were classified under merchant code 5999: Miscellaneous retail stores or code 5941: Sporting Goods Stores. Retailers would use these codes when setting up their merchant acounts for accepting credit and debit cards and when accepting payments from customers. When running reports on users, banks wouldn’t be able to tell whether you bought a kayak at your local sporting goods store or a Glock at your local gun shop; it all rolled up into the same merchant code.