By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
It is the latest warning sign of a great divide in the U.S.; a political and philosophical chasm growing wider in an election year which appears headed toward a collision of monumental proportions between the woke far left and traditional conservatives, with guns and the Second Amendment in then eye of this brewing storm.
As noted by News Nation, California’s new law requiring mandating the creation of specific retail codes that credit card companies provide to banks so the sales of firearms and ammunition at gun stores can be tracked just took effect.
At the same time, four states—Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee and Wyoming—have prohibited the use of such retail codes.
Next year, similar retail code requirements are scheduled to take effect in Colorado and New York.
There is more division on the table, with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to review two cases—one in Maryland and the other in Illinois—challenging their bans on semi-auto rifles, leaving the country divided with ten states and the District of Columbia banning the guns and the other 40 states allowing ownership. Presently, 29 Republican-controlled states allow permitless carry, and the remaining 21 states controlled by Democrats still require licenses or permits.
The retail code issue could be a Fourth Amendment cause as well as a Second Amendment because critics say it violates the privacy of gun owners, and lays the foundation for gun registration, despite what CBS News is reporting.
“The idea behind a gun merchant code is to detect suspicious activity,” the CBS report explained, “such as a person with no history of buying firearms suddenly spending large sums at multiple gun stores in a short period of time. After being notified by banks, law enforcement authorities could investigate and possibly prevent a mass shooting, gun control advocates contend.”
Larry Keane, senior vice president and general counsel at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, was quoted by the Associated Press stating, “We view this as a first step by gun-control supporters to restrict the lawful commerce in firearms.”
Many activists have already decided to pay only cash for their gun and ammunition transactions as a result of these tracking laws.
There is also a legitimate concern among gun owners that the California law equates all gun purchasers to criminal behavior.
This was illustrated in a remark by Hudson Munoz, executive director of Guns Down America, a gun prohibition lobbying organization, which states on its website, “Guns Down America is successfully building a future with fewer guns by weakening the gun industry and building political and cultural support for policies that will keep us safe from gun violence. Small but mighty, Guns Down America has led the gun violence prevention movement by ending the NRA’s lucrative insurance program, pushing major American banks to end their business relationships with irresponsible gun manufacturers, and forcing large retailers like Walmart to dramatically shrink gun sales.”
In his view, the new California law is as “first step.”
“The merchant category code is the first step in the banking system saying, `Enough! We’re putting our foot down,’ Munoz told News Nation. “You cannot use our system to facilitate gun crimes.’”
So the question arises, how can there be any progress when one side treats the other side as criminals? Eventually, that philosophy could collide with common sense, plus the Constitution.
