[Conservative Daily News] Pension officials in New York City and California have petitioned Visa, Mastercard and American Express to use their technology to track gun purchases, letters obtained by Reuters revealed.NYC Comptroller Brad Lander petitioned Mastercard and American Express to add a "merchant category code," a four-digit code attached to transactions that identifies what sort of transaction they are, specifically for gun purchases, Reuters reported. Lander was joined by a California State Teachers’ Retirement System portfolio manager in making a similar request to Visa, according to Reuters.
The letters, sent Aug. 29, noted that specialized businesses like bowling alleys had a unique merchant category code but that "banks and payment networks cannot readily identify sales made by standalone gun and ammunition retailers," Reuters reported. A Mastercard representative told Reuters that the company supports "all legal purchases while protecting the privacy and decisions of individual cardholders."