Staff Reports
More than 100 House Republicans are requesting information on handgun sales from credit card firms.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and other House Republicans requested answers in a letter to the CEOs of Visa, MasterCard, and American Express over the businesses' decision to use the new Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) developed by the ISO to differentiate between sales of guns and other items. Republicans requested that creditors make their standards public and questioned whether labeling gun transactions and law enforcement as such represented an attempt to skirt federal law by establishing a weapons registry.
The members introduced themselves by stating, "As you know, the ISO uses four-digit numbers known as MCCs to identify merchants and businesses according to the type of goods or services they offer."
There were already two MCCs that documented transactions involving lawful firearms: 5999 for Miscellaneous Retail Stores and 5941 for Sporting Goods Stores.
Amalgamated Bank, a left-leaning activist bank, requested a distinct Category Code for guns retailers in July 2021. The ISO rejected the proposal in October and an appeal in November 2021, as Republican members emphasized. According to the ISO, a restricted category would harm small gun dealers and prevent the sale of firearms in sporting goods stores.
Visa and American Express fought against a firearms MCC. A representative of American Express stated, "MCC codes are problematic in confined store areas." Managing long lists of precisely specified MCCs could be problematic if not required.
Visa recommended financial institutions to refrain from acting as moral arbiters. CBS reports that the corporation notified congressional Democrats who advocated for the new norm that "allowing payment networks to choose which allowed goods may or cannot be purchased sets a dangerous precedent."
Amalgamated Bank reapplied in June. The ISO adopted the revised MCC this time. According to Amalgamated Bank, there are no established, consistent, scientific, or legal means to determine from this data what constitutes a "suspicious" transaction. The bank "stated its intention to use algorithms to detect dubious purchases made by Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights." The goal of a proponent of gun control might be anyone who desires a firearm. This is a brazen attempt to restrict constitutionally protected liberty and circumvent restrictions on government gun registries.
Then, lawmakers asked with credit card firms about the application of new regulations.
-Whether companies agree with ISO's decision to build a new MCC and, if so, why.
-What standards the corporations will employ to identify suspicious transactions; how these standards were formed; evidence that they will only focus on criminal intent and not on legal purchases; and whether the companies will make these standards public and share them with its cardholders.
-How firms will inform users about the effects of policies and whether or not they will solicit client feedback.
Why don't firms warn customers when their legal transactions are discovered and reported to law enforcement?
-Whether corporations have addressed the "reputational risks and potential repercussions for your fiduciary duty to shareholders" of alienating a major section of the 100 million gun owners and millions of potential gun buyers in the United States.
-If the firms are aware, this might be seen as an attempt to evade federal law by creating a nationwide firearm registry.
-Whether or not the companies consulted with the weapons industry.
-Whether the businesses used due diligence, including reviewing DOJ information indicating that only a small percentage of gun offenders acquire firearms from sites covered by the new legislation.
A total of 101 House Republicans signed the letter.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on DAILYWIRE.
