Elise Stefanik, House GOPers demand Visa come clean on gun-sale tracking

WASHINGTON — New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, joined by 100 House GOP colleagues, is demanding more information about credit-card company plans to track gun sales with a new code — including asking if the firms plan to send gun-sale records to the government.

Visa, the world’s largest credit processor, said Saturday it will begin labeling retail gun sales with the new Merchant Category Code — allowing for easier tabulation of such sales and potentially different standards for review.

Stefanik, the No. 3 House Republican, demanded answers Wednesday in letters sent to Visa CEO Alfred Kelly and his counterparts at MasterCard and American Express, which also will adopt the MCC for guns that was unveiled Friday by the International Organization for Standardization.

The upstate congresswoman noted that the credit card companies and the ISO in the past resisted the idea because it would burden small businesses and fail to capture some gun sales, including at sporting-goods retailers.

“It has been widely reported that American Express, MasterCard, and Visa did not support this application,” the Stefanik-led letter says. “Specifically, Visa recently stated that they ‘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.’ We could not agree more.”

Alfred Kelly.
Rep. Elise Stefanik sent to Visa CEO Alfred Kelly and his counterparts at MasterCard and American Express.
Michael Kovac/Getty Images
Elise Stefanik.
“What criteria will Visa utilize to flag transactions?” Rep. Elise Stefanik’s letter asks.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Stefanik asked the companies whether they support the latest developments and about how they will implement the change.

“What criteria will Visa utilize to flag transactions?” the letter to the company asks. “How will Visa inform consumers on the impacts of this implementation?”

The letter also asks if “Visa [will] notify customers when their lawful transactions have been flagged and sent to law enforcement.”

Visa cards.
Stefanik and the GOP members want to know if “Visa [will] notify customers when their lawful transactions have been flagged and sent to law enforcement.”
Jenny Kane/AP

The letter adds, “Are you aware that federal law contains multiple restrictions on the creation of a national firearm registry and that this move by your company could be perceived as a bad faith attempt to circumvent those restrictions?”

The new vending code for guns was sought by New York’s Amalgamated Bank and its adoption was celebrated as a momentous win by gun-control advocates.

“Everyone has a responsibility to do what they can to stop gun violence. As a bank, it is our right and responsibility to report the use of the financial system to fuel black market gun sales and sales associated with mass shootings,” Priscila Sims Brown, CEO of Amalgamated Bank, said this month.

Gun store owner.
Visa will begin labeling retail gun sales with the new Merchant Category Code.
Haven Daley/AP

“Issuing a merchant category code for gun sellers will allow us to do that, and we are confident that our pending application will be successful if Visa, Mastercard, and American Express follow their process for creating new codes.”

New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James tweeted last week, “These credit card companies must now take the next step and flag suspicious transactions on gun and ammunition sales like they do for fraud and money laundering.”

Republicans currently are in the minority in both chambers of Congress and cannot compel the disclosure of information or testimony from credit card companies. However, Stefanik’s letter signals a likely line of inquiry if the GOP flips control of the House in the November midterm elections.

“I am adamantly opposed to this attempt to track the information of law-abiding gun owners and am calling out this attempt to infringe on our Constitutional, Second Amendment rights,” Stefanik told The Post. “As Far Left gun grabbing politicians seek to further erode our Constitution, I’m working to ensure credit card companies are not aiding in their anti-Second Amendment agenda.”

Republicans previously devoted significant attention to oversight and criticism of the Obama administration’s Operation Choke Point, which sought to use federal agency power to crush the operations of disfavored but legal businesses, such as some firearms sellers and payday lenders.

Visa, Mastercard and American Express did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.

source: nypost.com