California, New York AGs Push Card Companies to Add Firearms Category

Source: American Banker

The top prosecutors in California and New York are pressing three major U.S. credit card companies to add a new purchase category code for firearms, which they say will help law enforcement spot potential red flags. 

In letters to the CEOs of Visa, Mastercard and American Express, the two attorneys general wrote that "all options must be on the table to remedy" the "scourge of gun violence" in the United States.

"To address a problem as persistent and pervasive as gun violence in the U.S., it is imperative for business leaders to identify and remedy the ways that their industries help to facilitate gun violence," California Attorney General Rob Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote.

Spokespeople for Visa and American Express did not respond to requests for comment, says the American Banker article.

A Mastercard spokesperson pointed to comments the company made earlier this week, which noted that the International Organization for Standardization is considering a separate category code for gun and ammunition stores. The Mastercard spokesman's comments came after three pension funds for New York City teachers, civil servants and school administrators urged the card networks to take action on the issue.

"We are reviewing how it could be implemented and managed by the banks that connect merchants to our network," Mastercard spokesperson Seth Eisen told Bloomberg. "This will help us continue to deliver a payments system that supports all legal purchases while protecting the privacy and decisions of individual cardholders."