Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-04) led more than 30 of their colleagues in sending letters to the CEOs of MasterCard, American Express, Discover and Visa, urging them to implement a newly created merchant category code that categorizes gun and ammunition retailers.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) maintains a series of merchant category codes (MCC) — four-digit codes that classify merchants by their purpose of business. In September 2022, the ISO approved the creation of a new MCC for gun and ammunition retailers. Although Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and Visa agreed to implement these codes in Fall 2022, they walked back these promises in the following months.
This letter asks credit card companies to implement the codes in states where they are legal, and requests information about their hesitation to enforce this measure.
“The need for [credit card companies] to implement this MCC is urgent. Since [their] pause on implementing the MCC, mass shootings have occurred at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, a mall in Allen, Texas, locations across Lewiston, Maine — and hundreds of other locations.” the lawmakers wrote. “The financial industry is uniquely positioned to identify suspicious transactions that could help prevent the next mass shooting in this country.”
The letter is endorsed by Amalgamated Bank, Guns Down America, Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and Everytown for Gun Safety.
Read the full letter here.
Rep. Madeleine Dean is a mother, grandmother, attorney, professor, former four-term member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and U.S. Representative for the Fourth District of Pennsylvania.
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