By Fran Bishop, NPA Government Relations Liaison

9/15/2022

Will this turn into another excuse for pawnbrokers to lose their banking relationships and credit card processing?  

Visa, American Express and Mastercard will implement a new merchant category code for gun retailers recently adopted by the IOS (International Office for Standardization).  

Advocates for gun control believe it will help track suspicious transactions of firearms and ammunition that were previously categorized as retail or sporting goods sales. 

Second Amendment proponents counter that the code will unfairly surveil legal gun purchases. The NRA says, “it’s about creating a national registry of gun owners.” 

Merchant codes track where you use a credit card, but not what items were specifically purchased.  

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting very annoyed about this ‘big brother’ stuff.