Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
“When you buy an airline ticket or pay for your groceries, your credit card company has a special code for those retailers. It’s just commonsense that we have the same policies in place for gun and ammunition stores,” Mayor Adams said.
By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams, City Comptroller Brad Lander, trustees of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System and Board of Education Retirement System, and elected leaders on Tuesday called on American Express, MasterCard and Visa, three of the world’s largest credit card companies, to support a proposal to establish a merchant category code (MCC) for gun and ammunition stores. The creation of a new code would help financial institutions detect and report suspicious activity, such as unusually large purchases of firearms or ammunition, or purchases from multiple stores that may be used for criminal purposes.
Credit card companies use a four-digit merchant category code to classify businesses by the types of goods and services sold. Merchant category codes are set by the International Organization on Standardization (ISO). Unique merchant category codes exist for grocery stores, sporting goods stores, bicycle shops, and many other retailers — but not for gun and ammunition stores. Proposals have been brought before the ISO to create a merchant category code for gun retailers, but American Express, MasterCard, and Visa have not supported the proposal.
The press conference, which comes ahead of a fall meeting of the ISO, highlighted the introduction of shareholder proposals by the three pension funds at American Express and Mastercard and requested transparency on the decisions made regarding merchant category codes for gun and ammunition stores. The three pension funds also sent a letter with the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) to American Express, Mastercard and Visa. The three pension funds own 667,200 thousand shares in American Express valued at approximately $92.49 million; 1.1 million shares in MasterCard valued at approximately $347.59 million; and 1.85 million shares in Visa valued at approximately $363.86 million.
This announcement also follows a letter to MasterCard and American Express from 50 New York state legislators, spearheaded by New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie and New York State Assemblymember Chantel Jackson, calling for the creation of this code.
“When it comes to guns falling into the wrong hands, we must find upstream solutions before we’re faced with downstream consequences — because downstream consequences are lost lives,” said Adams. “When you buy an airline ticket or pay for your groceries, your credit card company has a special code for those retailers. It’s just commonsense that we have the same policies in place for gun and ammunition stores. I’m proud to join Comptroller Lander and our partners at the state level to call for this important policy change.”
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams added, “Credit card companies already use merchant category codes for retailers from utilities to transportation to clothing — it’s past time they also used them to specifically mark gun stores as well. As trustees of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, we have invested in the big three credit card companies. We have a fiscal and moral responsibility to protect New Yorkers’ safety and finances by urging these companies to exercise that same responsibility and implement category codes to help detect suspicious purchases at gun and ammunition stores. Every illegal gun was legal at some point, and the usage of these codes would be instrumental in monitoring and tracking those legal gun sales as well as future gun trafficking.”
