Coalition of 24 State Attorneys General Send Letter to Credit Card Companies for Violation of Second Amendment Rights

Coalition of 24 State Attorneys General Send Letter to Credit Card Companies for Violation of Second Amendment Rights | 21 Sept 2022 | Officials in New York City and the state of New York have asked American Express, MasterCard, and Visa to make a four-digit merchant category code (MCC) like the ones used for other retail categories to better identify and report suspicious behavior, such as large purchases of firearms. On Friday, September 9, 2022, the International Organization for Standardization -- the organization in charge of setting standards for business transactions -- voted to create a "merchant category code" for gun purchases. This will allow banks that process payments from gun retailers to assign the new code to the gun stores. On Tuesday, a group of twenty-four state attorneys general sent a letter to American Express Company CEO Stephen J. Squeri, Mastercard Inc. CEO Michael Miebach, and Visa Inc. CEO Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. strongly objecting to the companies' plans to implement the ISO Merchant Category Code. "The creation of a Merchant Category Code for sales at U.S. gun stores will not only not accomplish its intended goal, but is rife for misuse and abuse," Attorney General Schmitt announced. "Missourians value their Second Amendment rights and oppose any attempts to create a de-facto gun registry. I'm proud to stand up for those rights and will oppose this decision by the major credit card companies at every turn."