you'll have to excuse my ignorance in this matter. i went to the shop the other day and saw some guy...very young...prob just 21. he was buying an expensive sig. i gathered from the conversation he was having with the salesman that he was in very frequently and prob made many purchases....they were actually treating him well. he paid with a credit/debit card. i understand that you have to fill out paperwork when you purchase firearms from a dealer anyway, but it seems stupid to use something that is just another means of tracking what you have. is this a common consensus among gun owners? i have only purchased two firearms in my life, and it would never occur to me to use anything but cash to pay for firearms, ammo, anything having to do with weapons. is it a correct assumption that you make it far easier for the powers that be to know what you have if you use credit for your purchases?
buying weapons with credit cards
- Thread starter carlrodd
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Car Knocker
Member
Well, buying with a credit card isn't any worse than posting what weapons we have on an Internet forum for the entire world to read.
countertop
Member
Of course, they don't ever know if you sold it later though, do they?
entropy
Member
I pay for my tinfoil with cash, just in case....
I use my Visa check card for about 95% of my purchases, because if I have cash in my pocket I will spend it where with needing to run the card it takes more effort for me since I need to log the transaction. I have missed a few deals like this, but looking back not thing I really needed. It comes strait out of my checking account. It also helps track my spending.
As I get older I wished I would not have used credit to buy things I could not afford to pay for strait out, gun included. I was once that 21 year old kid. Now I if I cannot pay cash I do not buy it. I will used a credit card from time to time still, but only if I can pay that purchase off within 30 days.
I do not worry about tracking because if fill you out paperwork they will use that most likely to track your purchase.
As I get older I wished I would not have used credit to buy things I could not afford to pay for strait out, gun included. I was once that 21 year old kid. Now I if I cannot pay cash I do not buy it. I will used a credit card from time to time still, but only if I can pay that purchase off within 30 days.
I do not worry about tracking because if fill you out paperwork they will use that most likely to track your purchase.
Standing Wolf
Member in memoriam
I've never seen a firearm's serial number on a credit card receipt.
Remaining anonymous is pretty much impossible unless you're buying used guns from individuals and paying cash. If I'm buying a new and expensive gun, I'm going to send in my warranty card as well. I suspect that many dealers might even place your records in a "special" file if you're known to always pay cash. First and foremost, dealers want to stay on the good side of "them".
One store that I buy from has the serial #'s on the receipt. The reason is for my records in case it was stolen, I would have concrete evidence to show the LEO. They also have a 60 warranty whether the firearm is used or new. They use that receipt to confirm ownership. I kind of like that number being on there myself.Standing Wolf said:
Bruce333
Member
or lost it when your fishing boat sank...countertop said:
CAS700850
Member
I simply don't care anymore what some government employee in some deep dark basement of some big concrete building knows about me anymore. So what? Are they gonna suspend the 4th amendment and search door to door for every guyn in the country? Are they only going to search the homes of those who are known to own guns? Sorry, but I have much more pressing issues to worry about than whether using a credit card to purchase my Sig 239 put my name on some list.
fletcher
Member
The two handguns that I purchased at the store/show were both done with a credit card. That's primarily because I don't like carrying cash.
sturmruger
Member
I think you are being a little on the paranoid side. To buy a gun at a dealer you have to give them a lot of private information. Paying with cash seems like a waste of time to me. I like to use my credit card for as much as possible. My wife and I get a crap load of miles when we use are cards.
Done it before and wouldn't mind doing it again. Just because i buy something at a gun shop doesn't mean that there are any specifics about what I bought. It certainly is reasonable to assume that a multihundred dollar item is a firearm, but which firearm? Rifle? Shotgun? Handgun? or even a safe perhaps?
If you're worried about any record then purchase FTF in cash.
If you're worried about any record then purchase FTF in cash.
I use my card to get the "points" so I can add to my monthly totals - every 2 months, I get enough points to get a $50 gift card from numerous places - I pay off the card EVERY month in full, so I pay not interest.
Besides... Shhh, don't tell anyone, but the dollar bills have little carbon fibers in them that can be tracked by the satellites in the sky....
Besides... Shhh, don't tell anyone, but the dollar bills have little carbon fibers in them that can be tracked by the satellites in the sky....
phoglund
Member
Debit cards are my preferred payment method. I don't worry about what might be tracked that way. And bru333, how did you know my fishin' boat sank with several of my store purchased guns??? Huh??
I know a gunstore that does not take credit cards and frowns on checks. Most people do not walk around with $500-1000 in their pockets though I generally try to as you never no what will come up like at a yard sale a friend missed many years ago a Thompson semi auto for like $400 with goodies.
Bruce333
Member
You weren't wearing your tin foil hat were you?phoglund said:Debit cards are my preferred payment method. I don't worry about what might be tracked that way. And bru333, how did you know my fishin' boat sank with several of my store purchased guns??? Huh??
There is enough paperwork that goes along with buying a gun at a retail store that I'm not too concerned about adding the purchase to my bank records from using my debit card.
R.W.Dale
Member
I would have thought that with the holidays being over and all of the leftovers gone. that tinfoil supplies would be back up to
"normal" by now.
"normal" by now.Ala Dan
Member in memoriam
by Standing Wolf
+1 for the Wolfman, as I haven't either~!
+1 for the Wolfman, as I haven't either~!
I try to pay cash for personal finance reasons only. If THEY know what I have, they know. I am not going to go out of my way to post my inventory on this site, but I have mentioned quite a few of them.
Another cost to consider: Many credit card companies have a very short grace period on new purchases. You may be paying interest even if you pay it off every month.
Another cost to consider: Many credit card companies have a very short grace period on new purchases. You may be paying interest even if you pay it off every month.
losangeles
Member
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- 360
I use my Amex card like I do with any other purchase of like price.
There's already enough data regarding the transaction so that if the feds wanted to keep track of my new acquisitions, a credit card transaction trail isn't going to make a difference. And if they know, so what? I'm not doing anything illegal nor do I plan to.
There's already enough data regarding the transaction so that if the feds wanted to keep track of my new acquisitions, a credit card transaction trail isn't going to make a difference. And if they know, so what? I'm not doing anything illegal nor do I plan to.
MachIVshooter
Member
carlrodd said:
As has been said, the credit card reciept does not distinguish between firearms or other items found in the business place. They aren't going to say "he spent $647 at Joe's sporting goods. Had to be a gun". Hell, I've dropped as little as $60 on a gun and as much as $2,200 on other, non-gun items at the gunstore at one time.
I'd not worry about them being able to track weapons; they have umpteen ways of doing so without financial evidence anyway. I'm quite sure that all of us who've ever filled out a 4473 has a little red mark in the FBI's database. Best way to stay off the radar is to not do anything that throws a flag (like buying 20 firearms and 10,000 rounds at once).
But besides all that, there are simply so many firearms in circulation (most not "registered, some don't even have serial #'s), that there would be no way to effectively confiscate them. Estimates on legal guns in the U.S. range from 175 million to 300 million. I'm betting the number is actually even higher, and you can add another 30 or 50 million illegal guns to that list.
Many of the legal ones have been handed down or privately transferred so many times that the paper trail went up in smoke long ago. And once a firearm is in circulation, it tends to stay there. I would bet an absolutely miniscule percentage are actually confiscated and destroyed.
As spectacularly ignorant as our politicians are, there is no way that any of them could actually think that going door to door for confiscation could work.
Does uncle sam know I own guns? No doubt. Do they know how many? not likely. Will they ever get a single one of them from me? No way.
fiveoboy01
Member
I'd assume that other than the amount, the CC company has no idea WHAT you bought, only WHERE you bought it from.
Besides, the 4473 has all your info on it anyways.
Besides, the 4473 has all your info on it anyways.
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