Mayor Adams and Comptroller Brad Lander are seeking to use the New York City government’s retirement investments as leverage to pressure the credit card industry into launching a system for tracing gun purchases, arguing that such a mechanism could help prevent future mass shootings.
Under current rules, MasterCard, VISA, Amex and other credit card networks must categorize purchases at everything from grocery stores to bicycle shops under specific merchant category codes. But there are no such codes for gun and ammunition retailers — meaning buys in those categories are only listed as “miscellaneous” in credit card reports.
During a Tuesday afternoon press conference at City Hall, Adams, Lander and a cadre of other local officials said establishing a weapon code would enable financial institutions to detect and report suspicious gun purchases to law enforcement, such as an unusually large number of firearms bought over a short time span. Notably, some U.S. mass shooters made extraordinarily sizable purchases, including the perpetrator of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Florida, who used a MasterCard to buy $26,000 worth of firearms and ammunition in the days before the attack.
But Lander said MasterCard, VISA and Amex have so far opposed a gun merchant code proposal pending before the International Organization on Standardization, the entity charged with regulating the code system.
“Unfortunately, MasterCard, American Express and VISA have failed to support this simple, practical, life-saving tool,” Lander said. “The time has come for them to do so.”
In order to ramp up pressure, Lander said the city’s three public retirement pension funds — which hold more than $800 million invested with MasterCard, VISA and Amex — have issued formal shareholder proposals with the credit card giants demanding that they back the creation of a new code for weapon buys.
“Why would you not want to do this?” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a trustee of the city’s pension funds. “It’s preventative, and it holds people accountable. What can you tell us as to why you wouldn’t do this, when you do it everywhere else, except for the thing that causes death and carnage?”
Despite the tough talk, Lander stopped short of pledging to divest the city’s pension cash from the credit card behemoths if they vote against the creation of a new firearm merchant code when the International Organization on Standardization convenes for a meeting this fall.
“I’m very hopeful that these three companies will understand where their investors are and where the American people are,” the comptroller said.
Representatives for Amex and VISA did not return requests for comment Tuesday.
Seth Eisen, a spokesman for MasterCard, said the company is still mulling over the proposal before the International Organization on Standardization. But he also noted that MasterCard values the “privacy” of its customers.
“As we do with other MCC proposals and related topics, we are reviewing how it could be implemented and managed by the banks that connect merchants to our network,” Eisen wrote in an email. “This will help us continue to deliver a payments system that supports all legal purchases while protecting the privacy and decisions of individual cardholders.”
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The more information one gives the government, the more power the government has over you.
Think not? …… You must be a Democrat Party’s “useful idiot”.
For all we know, in NY< this is already being done.
“Those who trade liberty for security have neither. An armed man is a citizen, an unarmed man is a subject.” — John Adams
Only in Fascist run states do government oppressors force private companies to do their dirty work of controlling the minds and actions of their people.
Socialist Fascism is a dictatorial form of political ideology,,, an ideology where individuals of a society own the means of production but the dictatorial fearless leader run state, still controls the means of production and what is produced often in industrial spying. Under Communism the State both owns both the means production and controls production with Big Brothers like “The Big Guy” Biden watching your every move.
“Fascism is living under a dictatorship; living oppressed and under someone else’s beliefs without having your own freedom and limited rights. Democracy is a form of government that is made for the people and ran by the people.”
Today this Biden crew of Executive ordering controlling Fascists point one finger out to call MAGA Republicans Fascist, and three point back at them. The American Democrat party of socialists, like Stalin who claimed to be a Democrat Centralist, couch and disguise their fascist intentions with faux overtures of “Democracy” and would have you believe them democrats in their words, but consistently reveal themselves to be the true fascists in their ever-controlling freedom robbing deeds.
I am shocked, they are not trying to forcably take OVER those companies..
I am the government, I am the Gestapo / Stasi, I am here to take away your Second Amendment rights, I am here to destroy the Constitution, in other words I am here to help you, by taking away all of your rights under the Constitution. Oh, and by the way, I am a liberal, right you communist Democrats????
I doubt that the code tracing doesn’t check all purchases to see who is purchsing rat poison or machetes to ferret out who might be a possible murderer! Remember how many law enforcement agencise used the confiscation laws on innocent people that were meant to stop drug trafficking, what was deemed a too much cash, cars and other property was siezed from innocent people and never returned! This is a whole new ball game.
Exactly. That’s why i have never agreed with asset forfeiture laws.. TOO MUCH ABUSE IN THEM.
Other governments throughout history have made it their business to track those who bought guns. It never worked out well for those buying the guns.
If such a law was instated those with criminal intent would find a way around the law and they’d still get the guns. We have thousands of gun laws, especially in liberal cities, and yet they do nothing because criminals are criminals and don’t give a darn about the law. The only people this will hurt, and track, are law abiding gun and ammo purchasers.
WHICH IS WHY they are wanting to do this.. SO the can make their registry of who owns what, so when the gestapo comes to CONFISCATE them, they know who has what.
It’s beginning to be a toss-up as to which state has the most screwed politicians, California or New York. Why any logical person would want to live in either state is a real mystery. Unless they purge all the democrats from their state and city governments, it’s only going to get worse for them.
I used to have 2 Bank of America Cards with a combined credit limit of $42,000 that I’d had for 27 years. When I found out they WILLINGLY, WITHOUT Subpoena, turned over to the Feds, all info on anybody who rented a hotel room within 100 miles of D. C. on Jan. 6th, I cancelled both immediately.
Hearing that, i am GLAD I never signed up for BOA..
Step one, pressure the credit card companies to track gun purchases. Which will also give the government a convenient list of gun owners. Step two, pressure them to track ammunition purchases. Who except a criminal really needs to buy 500 rounds of ammo at a time, right? (sarcasm). Step three, pressure the credit card companies to stop allowing their cards to used to purchase firearms or ammo. How will they stop people from using cash for their purchases? Step four, eliminate paper currency in lew of government issued digital currency. It would be so much more convenient to not carry around all that dirty paper money. (Sarcasm again)
MAYBE If every gun owner, CEASED USING A SINGLE One of these banks, that will send a LOUD AND CLEAR message..
With all due respect Mayor Adams (as little as it is, you disappointing oaf), why are you Woke Progressive Libs so obsessed with legal gun owners when 99.99% of gun crimes are perpetuated by actual criminals who obtained their gun illegally?
How about extending this effort into enforcing the Laws on the books and actually prosecute everyone who uses a gun in the commission of a crime and when they are found guilty, throw them in prison for the whole duration of what should be a lengthy sentence?
Yeah yeah, I know I know. The NRA is the most dangerous organization in history, and a 100 million peaceful gun owners are the greatest threat to civilization ever since Genghis Khan ransacked Asia.
Well Mr Mayor: None is so blind as he who will not see, and none are so stupid as a Lib who will not think.
Agreed. “Lib who will not think” is kinda redundant though.
AND Notice, they always claim “THIS MAY” stop future crimes.
NOT THAT IT WILL.
Not that it stands a GOOD CHANCE of doing so.
BUT that it just “MAY”…
And, just like so-called “confidential” tax forms and information, it will be used to dox the lawful purchaser.
WHILE ignoring the crooks.