Attorney General Leslie Rutledge joined a coalition of 24 states in alerting the chief executive officers of multiple banks and major credit card companies that classifying firearm transactions into a newly created Merchant Category Code is potentially a violation of consumer protection law and antitrust law.
Rutledge says “attempting to document when law-abiding Americans choose to exercise their Second Amendment right is a flagrant attack on consumer privacy. This action by banks and credit card companies must stop immediately.”
In the letter to the CEOs of American Express, Mastercard and Visa, the attorneys general argue that monitoring and tracking firearm purchases creates a “list of gun buyers” which would present great risk to law-abiding consumers if the list were obtained and misused by those who oppose the Second Amendment.
The creation of this new Merchant Category Code specifically for gun stores allows credit card companies and large banks to monitor spending habits of consumers who purchase guns by adding their name to a list. Activists pressured the International Organization for Standardization to adopt this policy in order to circumvent and undermine the American legislative process.
Joining Rutledge in signing the letter are attorneys general from: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
To read the full letter, click here.
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