Visa coding won't stop gun violence

Visa said it plans to start separately categorizing sales at gun shops. Credit: AP/Jenny Kane
Visa coding won't stop gun violence
The anti-gun establishment again has garnered another toehold into my personal privacy, this time by way of my Visa purchases ["Visa plans to separately categorize gun-shop sales," News, Sept. 11]. I have been a legally licensed to conceal carry for 47 years. Yes, there are occasional incidences when a deranged person buys a weapon and ammunition for evil purposes, but those purchases are minuscule compared to the legal, nonviolent purchases by law-abiding Americans such as myself.
So again, I am one of those singled out and with a broad stroke of the brush and, in essence, grouped in with the criminals. We all know that the criminals always abide by the law, especially when purchasing weapons on the street corner.
New York State is paring down where I can legally carry and, of course, the criminals are abiding by those restrictions, too. If you think disarming the citizenry is going to work, see how it's working in Australia these days. I guess I'll be making all my purchases in cash from now on.
Timothy S. Dahlen Sr., Speonk
So, Visa is going to add merchant codes for gun sales. How this is going to keep unlawful guns off the streets?
New York City Mayor Eric Adams blames the proliferation of guns for his city's deadly violence. What? It's the rise of gun violence with illegal guns that is finding its way onto our streets. If you can control the sales of illegal guns and actually put people in jail (and who will stay in jail), this will help with gun violence. The answer is not having Visa adding codes. Laws must be changed. Support of our law enforcement, and stop the Band-Aid approach. All it does is favor the criminals, not law-abiding New Yorkers.
Larry Lombardo, Lynbrook
The writer is a retired New York City transit police sergeant.
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