Credit Card Sales at Gun Stores Would Be Flagged Under New Code

Most credit card companies and banks have either fought the new code or been silent on the issue. For several years, Visa and Mastercard have opposed adding the code. Behind the scenes, some company officials favored the code, but they publicly rejected it out of fear of angering politicians who support gun rights.

Amalgamated Bank made an application to ISO for the code this spring, arguing that it was necessary to identify credit risk. It had also applied for the code earlier in the year, but was rejected.

After Amalgamated reapplied for the code, it received support from political leaders across the country. Dozens of senators and members of Congress sent the credit card companies letters supporting the proposal. Several pension funds called for the card companies to disclose whether they supported or had tried to reject the code. It appears the campaign worked.

“We all have to do our part to stop gun violence,” Priscilla Sims Brown, the president and chief executive of Amalgamated Bank, said in a statement on Friday. “The new code will allow us to fully comply with our duty to report suspicious activity and illegal gun sales to authorities without blocking or impeding legal gun sales.”

It is unclear, however, whether the new code will be used.

In a letter on Friday to Senator Warren and dozens of other lawmakers, Robert B. Thomson III, a senior vice president of Visa, said the company is not a member of ISO and “does not have authority over ISO’s standards and processes.”

“We believe that asking payment networks to serve as a moral authority by deciding which legal goods can or cannot be purchased sets a dangerous precedent,” he wrote.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/09/business/dealbook/guns-sales-code-iso.html