The federal government is supposed to be prohibited from maintaining a national gun registry that lists the names of owners and their weapons.
We say "supposed to" because we don’t trust the ATF.
It's required to destroy gun background checks after six months, but then the FBI was required to be non-partisan in enforcing the law, and we've seen how that's turned out.
Regardless, the left has found a way to outsource the recording of gun purchases to woke corporations, which takes the unconstitutional onus off the feds.
It works this way. A citizen goes into a gun store and buys a new weapon.
He passes the background check and walks out the door with the gun.
He’s also pleased that he earned 800 or so frequent flyer miles or hotel points or some cash back by using a credit card.
What he doesn’t realize is now he’s also earned a new listing on the credit card company’s register of gun buyers.
In the past his purchase would not stand out in the millions of daily credit card purchases, but now Newsmax Finance Editor Lee Barney breaks the bad news: "American Express, MasterCard, and Visa [have created] a four-digit merchant category code (MCC), common for other retail categories, to help them detect and report large purchases of firearms or other suspicious activity by criminals."
Only it’s a wide net that catches every firearms purchase made by the law-abiding, too.
Up until recently this infringement on the rights of citizens would be met by news releases and possibly a threat to ask a question in a hearing.
And that would be the extent of the protest from our comb-over conservatives in Washington who would then go back to asking credit card company lobbyists for campaign contributions.
Today the situation is different.
Red State attorneys general have had enough and aren’t waiting for Washington to get off its collective behind.
The Washington Times reports, "Two dozen Republican state attorneys general warned the chief executive officers of three major credit card companies Tuesday that the recent creation of a Merchant Category Code for processing purchases from gun stores is potentially a violation of consumer protection and antitrust laws."
This group of Red State patriots agrees with us.
"The new code will not protect public safety. Categorizing the constitutionally protected right to purchase firearms unfairly singles out law-abiding merchants and consumers alike.
"First, efforts to track and monitor sales at gun stores would only result in vague and misleading information," the attorneys-general wrote.
"This categorization would not recognize the difference, for example, between the purchase of a gun safe and a firearm. Nor would it capture firearm purchases made at department stores, resulting in arbitrarily disparate treatment of 'gun store' merchants and consumers," they added.
The letter goes on to echo our concerns about the malign motives behind this new attack on the Second Amendment. "Creating and tracking this data only matters if your institutions are considering using that information to take further, harmful action — like infringing upon consumer privacy, inhibiting constitutionally protected purchases by selectively restricting the use of your payment systems, or otherwise withholding your financial services from targeted 'disfavored' merchants," they wrote.
"Generating a 'list of gun buyers' creates the obvious risk that law-abiding consumers' information will be leaked, discovered, hacked, or otherwise obtained and misused by those who oppose Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights."
And the law enforcement officers are guaranteeing not to pull any punches in their effort to reverse this infringement on basic liberty.
"Press releases from public officials make clear that the new merchant code was created and adopted in concert with various state actors, which may additionally create the potential for both civil and criminal liability for conspiracy to deprive Americans of their civil rights," the coalition of attorneys general wrote.
And here’s where we were encouraged by a group of Republicans who are tired of being graceful losers. They intend to win this fight. They will "marshal the full scope of their lawful authority" to fight "unlawful attempts to undermine constitutional rights."
And all we can add is it’s about dang time.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.