Staff for New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who oversees pension funds, mentioned he has filed shareholder resolutions at Mastercard and American Express asking their boards to clarify their views on whether or not so as to add a brand new “merchant category code” for firearms shops.
Lander and a California State Teachers’ Retirement System portfolio supervisor made an analogous request to Visa, whose deadline for 2023 shareholder proposals has handed.
In Aug. 29 letters to the three corporations seen by Reuters, the pension officers wrote such codes would assist monetary companies meet obligations to report suspicious purchases, and famous the four-digit codes are already assigned to specialised companies like bowling alleys.
Currently, “banks and payment networks cannot readily identify sales made by standalone gun and ammunition retailers,” the officers wrote.
A Mastercard consultant mentioned it’s reviewing the problem and that it goals to assist “all legal purchases while protecting the privacy and decisions of individual cardholders.”
Representatives for Visa and American Express didn’t instantly remark.
U.S. gun-rights activists say new codes might open the door to unauthorized police surveillance. An worldwide requirements physique would implement code adjustments.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, with representatives on pension fund boards, helps calls for the brand new codes, a consultant mentioned.
Mass shootings this 12 months together with an April 12 assault in New York’s subway system that left 23 injured have continued a long-running U.S. debate over gun management.
While nonetheless topic to investor approval, the resolutions mark a brand new tactic for activists who’ve efficiently pressed firearms makers instantly in some instances.
But a measure in April asking Mastercard to report on funds involving untraceable “ghost guns” gained assist from solely 10% of shareholder votes solid.
(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
By Ross Kerber