WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Rep. Burgess Owens (UT-04) joined House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (NY-21) and 101 Republican colleagues in sending a letter to Visa, American Express, and Mastercard regarding their implementation of a classification of gun sales. The letter seeks to ensure that this is not used to track law-abiding gun owners or infringe on their constitutional rights.

“The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently announced its unfortunate decision to create a firearm-specific code in apparent submission to the desires of liberal activists and politicians who seek to erode the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. “Amalgamated Bank stated its intent to utilize software to flag allegedly suspicious purchases made by Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights and file these red flags with law enforcement. This sentiment mirrors public statements from a myriad of liberal politicians who see this action as a first step towards further infringing on law-abiding United States citizens utilizing their Constitutional right to bear arms.”

The letter points out that previous attempts to create firearm-specific codes have been denied, even on appeal, and warnings suggest a new code would unduly burden smaller firearm retailers. As credit card companies implement these codes, the letter requests answers to multiple questions, including whether Amex, MasterCard, and Visa support lawful purchases and protect the privacy and legal decisions of their consumers regarding this implementation.

The full text of the letter is available here.

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