Lawmakers actively pressured banks to track guns and ammo sales, which would serve as a backdoor national gun registry.
Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) introduced legislation last week to block credit card companies from using a special merchant category code (MCC) to track gun and ammunition sales.
Moore’s bill, the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act, would also prohibit financial institutions from monitoring firearm transactions.
The legislation comes in response to growing concerns that compiling gun and ammo sale data could lead to a national firearm registry.
In September 2022, Visa caved to pressure from gun control groups and New York Democrats, agreeing to flag gun and ammo purchases using a merchant code. Mastercard and other major credit card companies followed suit.
Discover was set to begin tracking firearm-related purchases with the new MCC in April 2023.
However, intense public backlash forced a reversal. On March 9, 2023, Visa and Mastercard announced they would not move forward with tracking gun and ammunition sales. Discover soon followed, pausing its implementation as well.
Despite this retreat by credit card companies, some states—California among them—still mandate that gun and ammo purchases be tracked.
Here’s Rep. Moore talking about the new legislation:
Lawmakers actively pressured banks to track guns & ammo sales, which would serve as a backdoor national gun registry.
— Riley Moore (@RileyMooreWV) February 12, 2025
Great to join @CarlHigbie on @NEWSMAX this evening to discuss my new legislation that would stop this dead in its tracks. pic.twitter.com/xql8UpXgBp
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