NEW YORK—In addition to some congressional Democrats, some New York City officials are also now demanding credit card companies to start playing a stronger role in gun control. The move comes at the same time New York-based Amalgamated Bank — with the help of the advocacy group Guns Down America--has reapplied to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to create a new set of merchant category codes for gun sales.
Officials with a California pension fund have also made similar demands.
Specifically, some policymakers are calling on card companies to create a code to track purchases of guns and ammunition to help law enforcement try to keep better tabs on criminals and potential criminals.
Opponents of the proposal have said the new category would create unauthorized surveillance of gun owners.
In New York, officials with the city’s pension funds — the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System and Board of Education Retirement System — along with Eric Adams and City Comptroller Brad Lander said they are filing a shareholder proposal to that end, according to the New York Post said.
They are requesting that credit-card companies such as American Express, Mastercard and Visa add a new four-digit “merchant code” that would classify gun and ammunition stores on individual statements when purchases are made.
Under ‘Consideration’
“This is a matter currently under consideration by the cross-industry ISO organization. As we do with other MCC proposals and related topics, we are reviewing how it could be implemented and managed by the banks that connect merchants to our network,” Seth Eisen, a spokesman for Mastercard, said in a statement. “This will help us continue to deliver a payments system that supports all legal purchases while protecting the privacy and decisions of individual cardholders.”
In the case of Amalgamated Bank, it reported it applied for the code earlier this year and was denied, according to the executive director of Guns Down America. The director told the New York Times he believes pressure from Visa and Mastercard influenced ISO’s decision.
The Times said in its reporting that both Visa and Mastercard have largely declined to comment, saying they don’t believe they have a role to play in flagging or preventing the sale of particular products.
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