Amarillo gun shop owners on credit card tracking

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Visa, Mastercard, and Discover recently paused a decision to categorize purchases at gun shops.

The United States Government says the reason behind tracking gun shop purchases is to allow authorities to potentially see red flags, like larger ammunition purchases, which could prevent mass shootings.

While state attorney generals threatened legal action against Visa and Mastercard if they moved forward with their plan, local gun shops share predictions on what would happen to businesses if this law is implemented.

“I think most people will go with cash. They wont keep using credit card, at least the ones I’ve talked to, they wont use credit cards anymore, and they may cancel their credit cards,” says Jeff Gunslingers Owner, Jeff Srygley.

Gun store owners, customers, and even our local law enforcement aren’t happy about it.

“Those that are buying a gun with a credit card at a legitimate business are usually not the ones that are going out and doing mass shooting. They’re going out purchasing those for hunting or sport shooting or something of that nature,” says Potter County Sheriff, Brian Thomas.

Not only do they think it wont solve the targeted problem, but they also believe it is a violation of the Second Amendment.

“It violates our rights. It’s invasion of privacy. If they bought a package of beef jerky it would show that they bought something here at a gun store,” said Srygley.

The reason behind tracking gun shop purchases is for the prevention of gun violence, some are asking, what is considered a large amount of ammunition?

“If you’re hunting dove, the national limit is is one in seven shots. You’re allowed 15 birds. So seven times 15. We shoot competitions at the Amarillo Gun Club; we shoot state tournament, that’s 200 rounds. You have at least 200 shells and that’s if you don’t practice,” says Srygley.

Law enforcement says the guns typically used in crime are either stolen or bought illegally.

“I just I don’t see the real purpose behind this. You’re targeting the wrong people. That just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever,” continues Thomas.

”If they are tracking us on these, what else are they going to start tracking us on? This is just a stepping stone,” said Srygley.

We will continue to track the status of where the implementation of this law stands, as there are about 400 million guns registered in the country.

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