Tennessee: Gun Owner Financial Privacy Legislation Headed to Governor Lee

[Josh]

The proposals were to require firearm purchases to be specially coded (credit cards have information called “Level 3” data that bears a wide variety of information about a purchase).

Citation: Used to spend a lot of lonely evenings in a building in Ashburn…

Actually you are wrong. The proposals were to simply categorize gun shops as gun shops and not sporting goods stores.

Level 3 data processing is something else completely. Most point of sale credit card terminals don't do level 3 data transactions anyway. Level 3 transactions require detailed information about the items bought, quantities, units of measure, UPC code, etc. Since level 3 transactions already collect the UPC code for purchases they already know exactly what the item is. If you buy a weapon or box of ammo from a vender doing Level 3 data collection they already know exactly what the item is from the UPC code.

Ken, with respect, do you have any idea what you are talking about?

[Ken]

The proposals were to require firearm purchases to be specially coded (credit cards have information called “Level 3” data that bears a wide variety of information about a purchase).

Citation: Used to spend a lot of lonely evenings in a building in Ashburn…

Actually you are wrong. The proposals were to simply categorize gun shops as gun shops and not sporting goods stores.

Level 3 data processing is something else completely. Most point of sale credit card terminals don't do level 3 data transactions anyway. Level 3 transactions require detailed information about the items bought, quantities, units of measure, UPC code, etc. Since level 3 transactions already collect the UPC code for purchases they already know exactly what the item is. If you buy a weapon or box of ammo from a vender doing Level 3 data collection they already know exactly what the item is from the UPC code.

Ken, with respect, do you have any idea what you are talking about?

I do, do you? https://docs.clover.com/docs/understanding-level-3-data

[Josh]

Ah, yes, do a quick Google and become an instant expert.

How many projects have you worked on, Ken, where you worked with either merchant category codes or level 3 data?

[Ken]

Ah, yes, do a quick Google and become an instant expert.

How many projects have you worked on, Ken, where you worked with either merchant category codes or level 3 data?

It is YOUR assertion that gun control activists were trying to change the nature of Level 3 credit card data collection so that gun purchases could be identified and tracked. How about YOU support YOUR assertions with even a tiny shred of evidence. For example, show us:

1. What gun control activists were actually proposing with respect to level 3 data collection
2. What information is CURRENTLY being collected in level 3 data transactions, and
3. How these proposals you say exist would have changed how credit card companies collect level 3 data.

I know it is unfortunate that google allows people to quickly discover when one is making things up out of thin air. But hey, that is the world we live in today.

[Josh]

The specific proposal was that if a merchant sold firearms or ammunition but their primary mcc wasn’t a firearm dealer (such as a Walmart or Cabela’s), then any firearm sales had to have accurate Level 3 according to a database of firearms and ammunition UPC codes (which already exists). This was happening simultaneously with pressure on payment card providers to put severe restrictions on a firearm dealer. Basically making it harder for general retailers to sell firearms of ammunition.

I hope this has been informative.

And that’s the basis for this proposed legislation in TN.

[Ken]

The specific proposal was that if a merchant sold firearms or ammunition but their primary mcc wasn’t a firearm dealer (such as a Walmart or Cabela’s), then any firearm sales had to have accurate Level 3 according to a database of firearms and ammunition UPC codes (which already exists). This was happening simultaneously with pressure on payment card providers to put severe restrictions on a firearm dealer. Basically making it harder for general retailers to sell firearms of ammunition.

I hope this has been informative.

And that’s the basis for this proposed legislation in TN.

Uh huh. And can you point us to this proposed legislation that would have made this change?

[Josh]

It wasn’t legislation; it was pressure on the payment card providers to implement a change.

[Jazman]

It wasn’t legislation; it was pressure on the payment card providers to implement a change.

So detail the "pressure"... How was it done or is being done? Who is pressuring? What is the "it" and what does "pressure" mean? We'd like to know. It's your assertion. Show us the evidence.

[Ken]

It wasn’t legislation; it was pressure on the payment card providers to implement a change.

So detail the "pressure"... How was it done or is being done? Who is pressuring? What is the "it" and what does "pressure" mean? We'd like to know. It's your assertion. Show us the evidence.

And honestly, who cares one way or the other if credit card companies know what you are buying. Guns are legal to purchase. Law enforcement can already get a search warrant and look at all your bank records and see if you shopped at any gun stores, and if you did, how much you spent.

Something about gun obsession turns people paranoid and afraid of their own shadows. The same people who wring their hands about whether their credit card company is tracking their gun purchases are the ones who are afraid to go to the grocery store without conceal carrying a handgun. Normal people neither care that their credit card company is categorizing their purchases (that is how they get their mileage points and cash back after all). Nor are they terrified of venturing outdoors without a weapon.

[Josh]

It wasn’t legislation; it was pressure on the payment card providers to implement a change.

So detail the "pressure"... How was it done or is being done? Who is pressuring? What is the "it" and what does "pressure" mean? We'd like to know. It's your assertion. Show us the evidence.

Ultimately it the pressure wasn’t successful. It was done via direct lobbing to payment card processors via esg type of routes, as is quite common now.