Now, the state has bucked the trend of many of its brethren and mandated that credit card companies track gun and ammunition purchases.
The new law requiring a firearm-specific Merchant Category Code to be made available to retailers took effect this week, making the Golden State an outlier in the nation. However, the mandate for tracking such purchases remains several months from implementation.
This insidious scheme originated in the fall of 2022 when gun control groups successfully pressured Wall Street firms into pushing for an MCC specifically for weapons and ammo. This, in turn, led to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developing the code for payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard to categorize and track these purchases.
Proponents alleged that this action would somehow enable authorities to spot unusual transactions involving firearms and thereby prevent violent acts.
This is despite clear evidence that violent criminals rarely, if ever, acquire weapons through lawful means and are even less likely to use a credit card.
However, the news quickly spread that financial firms were moving to establish this practice. By early 2023, the reaction from states that honor the Second Amendment was so fierce that the companies halted the plan.
They would be forced to operate through a patchwork quilt of regulations from state to state, which would make doing business extremely difficult.
The wise decision was reached to put the brakes on the plan.
But then came California and its band of anti-gun zealots that occupy powerful state positions. These leaders never let the opportunity slip past to suppress the Second Amendment, and while other states expressly prohibited such tracking, the Golden State rolled out the red carpet for surveillance of private and constitutional transactions.
The legislature passed the law last year, and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) then dutifully signed it.
This was followed by quiet action from Visa, Mastercard and American Express to comply with California’s new law, which takes full effect in May of 2025.
These same companies announced in March 2023 that they had suspended efforts to impose the MCC under pressure from national and state lawmakers.
This poured gasoline on the already simmering battle between protecting the privacy of law-abiding citizens and creating the precursor to a national firearm registry.
CBS News reported that the three companies had sent a letter to key congressional leaders under the radar, asking why the work on the MCC had been paused.
Credit card company executives expressed that they will work with California’s new requirement, though they also voiced deep concerns about business operations in the current divided political climate.
Of course, it was their concession to outside pressure in the first place that led to the controversy surrounding firearm-specific MCCs.
While Colorado is, as usual, following closely in California’s footsteps, more states are lining up against the use of such codes. Those with laws already in place include Florida, Idaho, North Dakota, West Virginia, Texas, Montana, Mississippi, Utah, Iowa, Wyoming, Tennessee, and Georgia.
The latter four have new laws against these controversial MCCs that went into effect July 1.
Between now and January 1, 2025, prohibitions will be in place in Louisiana, Indiana, Alabama and Kentucky.
Larry Keane, Senior Vice President of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, called for congressional action against this latest infringement on constitutional rights. “Congress must bar the use of this gun owner privacy-invading code. It will do nothing to stop crime.”
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