SHOULD BANKS BE IN THE GUN CONTROL BUSINESS?

AuthorShepardson, Noah

A NEW FEDERAL gun control bill calls for banks and credit card companies to provide transaction data to the feds on some firearms purchases.

The Gun Violence Prevention Through Financial Intelligence Act, introduced by Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), would require the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to "request information from financial institutions for the purpose of developing an advisory about the identification and reporting of suspicious activity." The bill's aim is to identify a consistent purchasing pattern among people who buy firearms and firearm accessories in order to conduct "lone wolf acts of terror."

"Banks, credit card companies, and retailers have unique insight into the behavior and purchasing patterns that can help identify and prevent mass shootings," Wexton explained in a statement. "The red flags are there--someone just needs to be paying attention."

The New York Times reports that Wexton's bill was inspired in part by a 2018 investigation by Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin. Sorkin reported that in at least eight of the 13 mass shootings that had killed 10 or more people since the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, the perpetrators used credit cards to finance their killing sprees. James Holmes, who killed 12 people at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012, used a credit card to purchase more than $11,000 worth of guns, grenades, and other military gear. Omar Mateen, the 2016 Pulse nightclub...

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