Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) introduced legislation late last week that will prevent credit cards from using a special merchant category code (MCC) to track sales of guns and ammunition.
Moore’s legislation, the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act, would also prohibit financial institutions from tracking gun sales.
WVNews noted Moore’s bill is a response to growing concerns that the compilation of gun and ammo sale data could be used to form a registry.
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
On September 11, 2022, Breitbart News pointed out Visa caved to pressure from gun control groups and New York Democrats, agreeing to flag gun and ammo purchases via a merchant code. The Associated Press observed that Mastercard and other major credit card companies also agreed to flag gun sales.
On March 2, 2023, Breitbart News noted Discover was slated to begin tracking gun and ammunition purchases with the new MCC in April 2023.
However, public pushback was tremendous and on March 9, 2023, Breitbart News reported that Visa and Mastercard pivoted and announced they would not begin tracking gun and ammunition purchases anytime soon. On March 10, 2023, Money.com indicated Discover was hitting the brakes as well, and would not begin tracking gun purchases in April as planned.
Despite the about face by credit card companies, some states, California among them, require credit cards to track gun and ammo sales among their residents.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly:
