Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) and Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) signed Second Amendment privacy acts this week barring the use of credit card merchant codes to collect data on retail firearm purchasers.
Kemp signed HB 1018 on Monday and Lee signed SB 2223 on Tuesday. Their signatures bring the total number of states with Second Amendment privacy act protections to 14.
On February 13, 2024, Breitbart News reported that Visa, Mastercard, and American Express are implementing a special merchant code to track gun and gun-related purchases in California.
CBS News reported that the new merchant code will be used to comply with a “California law that will allow banks to potentially track suspicious gun purchases and report them to law enforcement.”
This comes after major credit cards adopted, then rescinded plans to use a new merchant code to track gun and gun-related purchases nationally.
On September 11, 2022, Breitbart News pointed out that 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 that Discover was slated to begin tracking gun and ammunition purchases with the new merchant category code (MCC) in April 2023. This news created a feeling of momentum for the left, countered by a wave of pushback among conservatives.
On March 9, 2023, Breitbart News reported that Visa and Mastercard pivoted amidst the pushback and announced they would not begin tracking gun and ammunition purchases
But California’s new law, which takes effect in 2025, will require credit cards to track gun and gun-related sales beginning in 2025.
In addition to Georgia and Tennessee, the other states which prohibit such point-of-sale data collection are Iowa, Kentucky, Wyoming, Indiana, Utah, Texas, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia
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, and a pro-staffer for Pulsar Night Vision. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Beef is his favorite vegetable. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.