New York's Office of the State Comptroller has asked Mastercard,Visa, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other cardissuers and processors to consider rejecting purchases of guns, ammunition andfirearm accessories, calling attention to risks that card issuersmay face for doing so.

CU Times reached out to a number of credit unionorganizations and, for now, they had little to say about theapparent growing trend of card issuers distancing themselves fromgun-related purchases.

In the March 29 letter to Mastercard, forexample, Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli noted that the state'spension fund, of which he is a trustee, is a shareholder inMastercard. DiNapoli said credit card companies were not immunefrom reputational risk and that the idea of financial institutionsrefusing to do business with retailers that sell assault weaponswas gaining traction.