(NewsGlobal.com)- After it was reported that credit card companies would flag purchases of guns and ammunition, Republican lawmakers are demanding answers.
In letters to the CEOs of American Express, MasterCard, and Visa, over 100 House Republicans, led by New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, expressed opposition to the special categorization of gun-related purchases and demanded that the credit card companies answer a series of questions explaining the process.
On September 10, Visa announced that it would recategorize gun sale merchant codes after the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) created a firearm-specific sales code. American Express and MasterCard quickly followed suit.
Credit card companies were facing growing pressure from New York Democrats including Governor Kathy Hochul and the highly partisan NY Attorney General Letitia James to flag “suspicious” gun-related purchases.
The lawmakers want the credit card companies to make public the standard by which these categorizations will be made and whether the companies were using this as a way to skirt federal law prohibiting the creation of a gun registry.
The Republican lawmakers are asking the credit card companies to explain the criteria used to flag transactions as suspicious activity, how the criteria will be devised, and if they plan to share that information with cardholders.
The lawmakers also want to know if the credit card companies will also be flagging lawful purchases rather than focusing on criminal intent.
The Republicans asked the companies if customers will be notified if their lawful purchases have been flagged and sent to law enforcement. And if they aren’t planning to notify customers, the lawmakers want to know why.
In a statement to Breitbart News, Congresswoman Stefanik said the credit card companies are attempting to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners. She said the Republican lawmakers are fighting to ensure that credit card companies aren’t being used as a way for the Democrats to violate the Constitutional right to bear arms.
