Visa, Mastercard, and other major U.S. card networks are adopting a new code for independent gun shops. The International Organization for Standardization approved last week the creation of a unique merchant category code (MCC) for gun and ammunition sellers. Following the wake of active-shooter incidents in recent years that showed guns and ammunition had been purchased with their cards as part of a payments system that didn’t track such merchants, Visa and Mastercard as well as other card networks were pressured by state officials, pension leaders and gun-control advocates to adopt a new code to better track troublesome gun purchases.
The decision came days after members of Congress and attorneys general in California and New York, as well as major pension systems in their states, urged credit card companies to back the creation of the new code for gun sellers, which they had previously opposed.
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