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Visa Delivers Big Win to Gun Control Advocates

Payment processor will start categorizing gun shop sales
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 11, 2022 5:30 AM CDT
Visa Delivers Big Win to Gun Control Advocates
Visa credit cards in a file photo.   (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Payment processor Visa Inc. said Saturday that it plans to start separately categorizing sales at gun shops, a major win for gun control advocates who say it will help better track suspicious surges of gun sales that could be a prelude to a mass shooting. But the decision by Visa, the world's largest payment processor, will likely provoke the ire of gun rights advocates and gun lobbyists, who have argued that categorizing gun sales would unfairly flag an industry given that most sales do not lead to mass shootings, per the AP. Visa joins Mastercard and American Express, which also said they plan to move forward with categorizing gun shop sales.

Visa said it would adopt the International Organization for Standardization’s new merchant code for gun sales, which was announced on Friday. Previously, gun store sales were considered “general merchandise.” Visa’s adoption is significant as the largest payment network, and with Mastercard and AmeEx, will likely put pressure on the banks as the card issuers to adopt the standard as well. Visa acts as a middleman between merchants and banks, and it will be up to banks to decide whether they will allow sales at gun stores to be reflected on their issued cards.

  • In favor: “When you buy an airline ticket or pay for your groceries, your credit card company has a special code for those retailers. It’s just common sense that we have the same policies in place for gun and ammunition stores,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain who blames the proliferation of guns for his city's deadly violence.
  • Opposed: “The (industry's) decision to create a firearm specific code is nothing more than a capitulation to anti-gun politicians and activists bent on eroding the rights of law-abiding Americans one transaction at a time,” said Lars Dalseide, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association.
(More Visa stories.)

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