By Tanya Metaksa
Last fall the gun ban lobby believed they had a new way to deter gun sales or possibly curtail them.
The CEO of Amalgamated Bank, Priscilla Sims Brown, who has been described by the New York Post as “the Left’s private banker,” was successful in lobbying the main international credit card standards organization to create a tracking code for gun purchases. On Sept. 9, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander announced that Amalgamated Bank’s request to establish a merchant category for gun and ammunition retailers had been approved. Other groups that were involved in promoting this purchase registry included many of the retirement systems for New York City as well as the California State Teachers’ Retirement System.
After Lander’s press release, credit card firms Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover issued self-congratulatory comments. Ten days later two dozen Republican attorneys general sent letters to all those credit card issuers telling the bankers that their plan raised issues concerning their customers privacy.
This was followed by a letter from a group of Republican Senators that read in part “Creating a new merchant code for gun transactions is a choice being made by each of your companies. You are choosing the side of gun-control advocates over the privacy and Second Amendment rights of millions of law-abiding Americans. You are choosing to insert yourselves into this political debate.”
Even Michael Bloomberg acknowledged that such a code could not precisely identify what the gun store customer was purchasing.
In the new 118th Congress two companion bills have been introduced to end discriminatory lending practices against firearms retailers, while in three states, bills have been introduced and are being voted upon to block the credit card tracking scheme.
In Mississippi HB1110 states, “A financial institution or its agent may not require the usage of or assign a firearms or ammunition merchant category code to any merchant located in Mississippi that is a seller of firearms or ammunition separately from general merchandise retailers or sporting goods retailers.” It has passed the House by a vote of 87-26
In Florida the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee approved SB214, that would stop the use of the gun store MCC and even fine the credit card companies $10,000 per violation.
Finally in West Virginia SB555 and HB3252, have been introduced. These bills would ban any credit card company that tracks firearms and ammunition purchases from bidding on state contracts. Both are awaiting committee action in their separate houses.
Discover has announced it will begin using the MCC tracking code on April 1.
Gun owners who find the action of the major credit card companies prejudicial, may contact them on their websites: www.discovercard.com, www.visa.com, www.mastercard.com and www.americanexpress.com.
