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Visa, Mastercard Pause Work on Code Aimed at Tracking Gun Purchases

  • Discover, AmEx also plan to delay implementation of new code
  • Payment giants have said code was unlikely to have much impact
A customer views handguns for sale at a store in West Point, Kentucky.

A customer views handguns for sale at a store in West Point, Kentucky.

Photographer: Jon Cherry/Bloomberg
Updated on

Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. have decided to pause implementing a plan that activists had hoped would track firearm sales and help curb gun violence.

The payments giants — along with Discover Financial Services and American Express Co. — are delaying the work after a series of bills in state legislatures targeted the International Organization for Standardization’s new merchant category code. The MCC was created to be used when processing transactions for gun and ammunition stores.