Do credit cards finance US mass shootings?

Many of the gunmen who carried out mass shootings in the United States over the past decade used credit cards to buy their high-powered weapons, a New York Times investigation revealed Monday.

The newspaper found that in at least eight of the past decade's 13 mass shootings that killed 10 or more people, the perpetrators used credit to fund their attacks. In some cases, the perpetrators used credit to buy weapons they could not otherwise have afforded.

More than 200 people were killed in those eight shootings.

Read more: 8 facts about gun control in the US

'Plenty of red flags'

"There were plenty of red flags, if only someone were able to look for them, law enforcement experts say," the newspaper reported.

The Times investigation found that  Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people and wounded 53 more at a nightclub in Orlando in 2016, opened six new credit card accounts in the eight months before the carnage.

In the twelve days leading to the attack, Mateen spent more than $26,000 (€23,000) on high-end arms and ammunition and $7,500 on a ring for his wife. Mateen's average monthly spending before his buying spree, on his only card, was $1,500.

Mateen also googled phrases like "Credit card reports all three bureaus," "FBI," and "Why banks stop your purchases" just days before the massacre.

"He needn't have worried. None of the banks, credit-card network operators or payment processors alerted law enforcement officials about the purchases he thought were so suspicious," the Times said.

Banks and credit card companies have so far maintained that it is not their responsibility to create systems to track gun purchases.

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