It goes beyond just adding video. This will amount to a separate Wal-Mart NICS check system. If you buy a gun, the Wal-Mart system apparently will access your past purchases, pull the s/n and check them against some crime database somewhere. Outside of NICS. Then even if you pass the NICS check (no warrants against you or felonies), Wal-Mart can refuse to sell to you if the Bloomberg file thinks you may have bought a “crime gun”. Not that I would normally buy a gun at Wal-Mart anyway, but I sure won’t now. It’s the principle of the thing. They are caving to Bloomberg just to get a store into NYC that probably won’t even sell guns.
The only access Wal-Mart has to gun trace data is from when the ATF runs a trace on a gun they sold.
They would be foolish not to keep track of requests for gun traces that the ATF makes of them. What they are doing in addition is flagging the customers that bought those weapons so they can determine if they want to continue to sell to them or not.
Then even if you pass the NICS check (no warrants against you or felonies), Wal-Mart can refuse to sell to you if the Bloomberg file thinks you may have bought a “crime gun”.
If you purchased a gun from them, and then the ATF runs a trace on it, they will flag your name. However, the ATF does sometimes run traces on guns that were not used in a crime, but are merely evidence.
I have no idea if Wal-Mart will refuse to sell guns to anyone who's previous gun purchase was traced. The article says they could refuse to sell to that person, not that they would refuse.
However, even if they do refuse to sell you a gun, you could just go and buy one from a different retailer.
I think it is a really bad idea for Wal-Mart to try and do the ATF's job and detect illegal gun trafficking. However, I also think that Wal-Mart should have the ability to refuse to sell to people that they have reason to mistrust. I however, don't think that having had a gun they previously purchased traced by the ATF by itself is reason to mistrust someone.