Tracking Of California Credit Card Gun Purchases

Above, the Remington 870 shotgun I bought last year was a cash purchase. Photo by Mitch Geriminsky.

There's a very big reason why I and many other gun owners purchase firearms by cash only. Some states are allowing credit card companies to code firearm and ammunition purchases with a code to track them. This amounts to a registry of firearms and firearm owners.

Other states have passed laws outlawing this practice.

California has passed a new law allowing this and it is going to effect.

The Truth About Guns posted:

California gun owners have long been besieged by a lengthy list of unjust, unconstitutional firearm laws that make practicing their Second Amendment right more difficult. And a new law that just took effect is going to make freedom even more scarce in The Golden State.

The new law, passed by the legislature last year and signed by anti-gun Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, required credit card networks to make a new firearm-specific Merchant Category Code (MCC) available to banks and other financial institutions by Monday.

At issue is a special MCC for gun and ammunition purchases adopted last year by the International Organization for Standardization. MCCs are used by payment processors (like Visa and Mastercard) and other financial services companies to categorize transactions.

To read more, go here. 

Cash Game Win

It looks like I am a winner of $3,000 from this promo game from a Kia dealer.

 

I will give them a call tomorrow. Hopefully, it isn't a scam.

National Park Service Sued Over Cashless Policies

Above, the South Entrance gate to Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

What part of the U.S. dollar's being "legal tender" does the National Park Service not understand? 

Apparently, several parks (maybe all of them) under the National Park Service are refusing cash from visitors and are only accepting credit or debit cards. This has led to three lawsuits (at this time).

National Parks Traveler reported:

The National Park Service's increasing move to only accept credit cards for entrance to parks has driven three visitors to sue the agency, saying its policy is unreasonable and an abuse of discretion and that federal law states that legal tender is suitable "for all public charges."

Esther van der Werf of Ojai, California, Toby Stover, of High Falls, New York, and Elizabeth Dasburg, of Darien, Georgia, brought the lawsuit [attached below] earlier this month after being told their U.S. currency would not be accepted for entry into Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Tonto National Monument, Saguaro National Park, Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site, and Fort Pulaski National Monument.

"NPS’s violation of federal law cannot be overlooked in favor of any purported benefit NPS cashless could hope to achieve, such as reducing logistics of handling cash collected," reads a section of the lawsuit. "Moreover, there is an increased cost to the NPS in going cashless, such as additional processing fees that will be borne by NPS and by visitors who ultimately fund the federal government through taxes, in addition to personal surcharges and bank fees visitors may incur under NPS cashless policy.

"However, plaintiffs do not ask the court to prohibit NPS from accepting credit cards, debit cards, or digital payment methods (such as ApplePay) should visitors to NPS sites prefer to use them. Rather, plaintiffs ask the court to restore entrance to NPS sites to those who cannot access non-cash payment methods (and those who choose not to) by declaring NPS cashless to be unlawful."

Us "geezers" don't have to worry about this as our national park Senior Pass gets us in without having to pay anything. Still, I agree that the NPS should also accept cash for entry fees.

To read more, go here. 

Will Economic Freedom End In July?

Above, Admiral Kirk and cashless society in the 23rd Century. Paramount Pictures.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) touched on being a cashless society in a scene between Dr. Gillian Taylor, the marine biologist, and Admiral James T. Kirk in the 20th Century pizza restaurant. 

Dr. Gillian Taylor: Don't tell me you don't use money in the 23rd Century.

Kirk: Well, we don't.

It would be nice if things today would be nice and benign as the 23rd Century (where the adventures of the starship Enterprise take place) where governments can be trusted in a cashless society. But, given the power-hungry politicians and Deep State bureaucrats who are now in charge of the federal government, it would take away our privacy, not to mention one's freedom.  

This is the topic in an article today in the American Thinker.

They begin it with:

The scene is as old as history.  An individual fleeing persecution wants to cross a border. His or her life depends on being able to bribe a border guard, with some fungible valuable item: whether gold, cash, silver, diamonds, etc. Life depends on it.

If the trade is prevented, then all hope is lost.

From the dawn of time, currency was the one thing that governments had difficulty tracking.  I am not considering checks, bills of credit, something written. Those are easy to trace. I am  talking about real currency. Currency in one’s hand, cash pressed in the flesh.

Bribery was always the province of the dishonest, but it often became the last resort of the honest: a war refugee wanted to cross a border before an invading army swoops in, a Jew wanted to evade a Nazi patrol, an Irishman wanted to get out of Ireland one step ahead of the Crown’s authorities.

Cash became the vehicle of freedom.

So what happens when that option is removed… by digital currency? What happens when fungible cash is made null and void?

Long-awaited Fed digital payment system to launch in July -- CNBC

The government is already trying to track gun store purchases through credit card business classification coding. (When this plan came to light, the backlash started. Others advocated using only cash to buy guns.) This hasn't been implemented due to the outcry. If this plan is fully implemented, gun purchases can be traced and the government could use that data to confiscate those guns. 

To read more, go here.

RV Travel Poll: Some National Parks No Longer Take Cash To Enter

Above, an entrance gate to Yosemite National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Some are saying that we have an over-reliance on credit and debit cards. Some are also saying that "digital currency" is the wave of the future. 

Both are lousy ideas as the corrupt government can control and spy on people through such transactions.

This doesn't affect me since I have my lifetime national park Senior Pass, so I don't have to pay anything.

RV Travel has noticed that some national parks are no longer accepting cash at entrance stations. They have a poll posted asking if this is a good or bad idea. 

They begin it with:

We’ve been noticing that more and more places aren’t accepting cash anymore. Are you finding this true where you are, too? Even some National Parks have said goodbye to cash and are only accepting payments in the form of credit or debit cards.

If you pulled up to an NP booth wanting to pay your entrance fee in cash but they turned you away, how would you feel about this? Is it a good idea or a bad idea? As always, please feel free to leave a comment after you vote. Thanks!

To participate in the poll, go here. 

Gun Store Purchases: Just Use Cash

Above, an Albuquerque gun store. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Democrats are a huge collection of sneaky bastards who would love to create a gun registry for the ultimate aim of gun confiscation.

The latest is the move by the International Standards Organization, who sets rules on Visa and other credit card companies. Under Democrat pressure, the plan is to introduce a special purchase code for gun store sales. Through the back door, this is nothing less than creating a special registry of gun sales.

The code doesn't differentiate between purchases of guns, gun cleaning products or anything else. Anything purchased at a gun store gets the code when bought with a credit card.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is fighting it.

From CBS News:

The National Rifle Association is slamming the credit card industry's new effort to track gun purchases, describing the plan as "creating a national registry of gun owners."

The NRA is pushing back against decision on Friday from the International Standards Organization (ISO), which sets rules across the financial services industry, to create a new merchant category code for gun and ammunition retailers. ISO's decision comes after mounting pressure on credit card companies by Democrats in Congress who favor use of such a code. 

Merchant category codes are four-digit codes that describe the retailer where a purchase is made, without detailing the specific item bought. These codes allow credit-card issuers to track and restrict purchases — for instance, offering rewards credit cards that give bonus points for travel purchases or cash-back on grocery spending.

On Monday, the NRA questioned the purpose of the new code and the motives for creating it. 

"The ISO's decision to create a firearm specific code is nothing more than a capitulation to anti-gun politicians and activists bent on eroding the rights of law-abiding Americans one transaction at a time," NRA spokesman Lars Dalseide said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. "This is not about tracking or prevention or any virtuous motivation — it's about creating a national registry of gun owners."

Visa, Mastercard and American Express all said they plan to move forward with the plan to categorize gun shop sales.

This looks to be a long battle. In the meantime, if one is to make a purchase at a gun shop, just use cash. It is legal to buy guns with cash.

To read the full article, go here. 

California State University Hid $1.5 Billion But Still Hiked Tuition

Back in the 1970s, I transferred to California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) from El Camino College.

Back at El Camino College, I switched majors, from art to political science. I continued on as a political science major at CSULB.

Back in those days, tuition was relatively cheap. They were cheap enough so that my parents paid the per-unit tuition costs while I bought all of my books. I graduated in 1979 with no outstanding student loan debt.

Times since then have changed and tuition costs for students in the California State University system have skyrocketed. I seriously doubt that students today can graduate without having student loans to have to pay off.

The following report in the Fresno Bee is especially galling when one considers the costs students and their parents have to pay today.

They reported:

The California State University stashed away $1.5 billion in discretionary reserves while raising tuition and lobbying the Legislature for more funds, according to a report released Thursday by California State Auditor Elaine Howle. 

CSU put the money, which came primarily from student tuition, in outside accounts rather than in the state Treasury, the report said. 

The investigation mirrors Howle’s 2017 report on the University of California Chancellor’s Office, which charged that top UC brass kept a $175 million slush fund while hiking students’ tuition.

A year ago, CSULB kowtowed to political correctness in deciding to remove the university's mascot, Prospector Pete over some dubious claim about prospectors mistreating Native Americans during the gold rush. That, and other acts by the university made me decide to no longer donate to the university or to the alumni association. I felt that the steps the university took dishonors its history and its alumni.

Even if this hadn't happened, the revelation that the California State University system stashed away $1.5 billion while raising tuition fees and lobbying more funds alone would have forced me to stop my donations. The revelation of the stash of money is totally dishonest. There's no excuse for it.

To read more, go here.

Network Down Today!

Cell phones along with Internet service were down for most of today in New Mexico.

I noticed the problem around noon as I was grocery shopping in Gallup. The market could only accept cash for purchases. The ATM in the store was also down. They told me this problem was "everywhere".

I left the store and went up old Route 66 to a gas station as The Beast had less than a quarter of a tank of gas. The gas pump wouldn't work with both my credit and debit cards. Their ATM was down also.

I knew I had enough to get back to Jamestown. I decided to give the Flying J a try (figuring they may be on a different system than those in Gallup). When I got there, they had a sign at each gas pump that the Internet was down and they could only accept cash.

Cell service was restored at least by 2:00 this afternoon. But Internet service remained down until around 8:00 this evening.

I am sure a lot of businesses lost a lot of money by being unable to process credit and debit cards today. It is amazing to see how much we rely on Internet service. Maybe we rely too much on it!