Discover Card has announced it will begin tracking its customers’ gun purchases beginning in April 2023.
The credit card issuer, with about 57 million cards in circulation, will be the first company of the sort to track gun purchases.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) said in a statement that Discover wants to :
“implement a new merchant category code (MCC) created to track purchases at gun stores with the express purpose of monitoring and reporting to authorities any activity the company considers ‘suspicious.’”
Discover has not explained what criteria would constitute a “suspicious” purchase according to the company.
“We remain focused on continuing to protect and support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy of cardholders,” Discover said in a statement
In opposition of the tracking, the NRA says the new policy has harasses customers for completely lawful conduct:
“…use of the MCC can only inform a credit card company that a certain amount of money was spent at what is considered a firearm retailer. It cannot be used to track what was actually bought, much less determine why the purchase was made. Thus, the program inherently poses a risk to consumers of needlessly intrusive and harassing consequences for completely lawful and innocent conduct.”
“While gun owners may be able in the short term to modify their purchasing practices, or avoid companies like Discover that infringe on their privacy and rights, they shouldn’t have to fear scrutiny or harassment for their lawful – and especially their constitutionally-protected – purchases,” the organization said in a statement.
