Credit card companies announced that they were dropping their plans to track gun purchases via their platforms thanks in part to efforts by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to end the potential use of gun purchase tracking by credit card giants Visa and Mastercard. The move to categorize such gun sales was categorized by conservative activists as a potential means to restrict the Second Amendment.
Visa, Mastercard and Discover all ended their plans to implement a code that could be used to track gun purchases. The companies planned to use an International Organization for Standardization code to track firearms purchases.
Conservatives feared that such code could be used to block such transactions in the future. A partnership of 24 states, led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen opposed the potential changes as a potential infringement of constitutional rights.
In particular, Canada used gun purchase information in a wide-ranging gun confiscation through a mandatory buyback.
The effort by the credit card companies reflects wider fears by some conservatives that large companies are being used for political causes.
Rep. Stefanik called for a major change to Visa’s gun purchase plan in 2022. The New York Republican joined 100 other Republicans in sending letters to Visa, Mastercard and American Express regarding the original plan to track gun sales.
This was an end-run around Congress by left-wing Amalgamated Bank to restrict Second Amendment rights.
Liberal banks have no business setting policy for Americans. https://t.co/SnU9d6tAyU via @technology
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) March 9, 2023
