SACRAMENTO, CA - A new law enacted in California now requires that major payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard use specialized retail codes that can be assigned to gun stores to compile a database of firearm and ammunition purchases.
According to The Associated Press, the Senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) Lawrence Keane expressed serious concerns that the tracking law is merely a "first step," saying, "We view this as a first step by gun-control supporters to restrict the lawful commerce in firearms."
The debate over gun sale tracking has become another among many divisive policies that have set Democrat and Republican states against each other with the states of Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee, and Wyoming passing bans on the practice in the past few months joining thirteen other states who had previously. According to CBS News, Colorado, and New York have also passed laws requiring firearms sales codes set to go effective in 2025.
The law, AB-1587, was part of a 12-bill package passed in 2023 which Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) Vice President of Communications Richard Thompson described in a statement saying, "This tyrannical package shows the legislature’s utter disdain for peaceable People and their willingness to use state violence to squash their rights."
In a critical policy document published in September, the NSSF explained, "NSSF is committed to ensuring that these specific MCCs not be used at all as they have the potential for exploitation of customer privacy and denial of services by politically-motivated activists. These codes were the product of Amalgamated Bank and Andrew Ross Sorkin to specifically track the lawful purchases of firearms and ammunition by law-abiding Americans.
"In reality, it is just the first step, by the admission of these two parties, to isolating and eventually denying the exercise of a Constitutional right by those who oppose lawful firearm ownership. NSSF will continue to work with state legislators and Congress to put an end to this blatantly discriminatory practice of using private enterprise to construct a back-door firearm registry."
A May post to X from the ASU Center for the Study of Guns in Society also revealed that the gun purchase data from the California law will be shared with University researchers.
As the AP observed, the merchant code, intended to help track firearms purchases more easily could potentially backfire and lead more purchasers to make their firearms transactions the old-fashioned way: in cash. Dan Eldridge, the proprietor of Maxson's Shooting Supplies near Chicago told the newswire that he's already installed an ATM in his shop in anticipation of the reclassification.
According to The Associated Press, the Senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) Lawrence Keane expressed serious concerns that the tracking law is merely a "first step," saying, "We view this as a first step by gun-control supporters to restrict the lawful commerce in firearms."
The debate over gun sale tracking has become another among many divisive policies that have set Democrat and Republican states against each other with the states of Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee, and Wyoming passing bans on the practice in the past few months joining thirteen other states who had previously. According to CBS News, Colorado, and New York have also passed laws requiring firearms sales codes set to go effective in 2025.
The law, AB-1587, was part of a 12-bill package passed in 2023 which Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) Vice President of Communications Richard Thompson described in a statement saying, "This tyrannical package shows the legislature’s utter disdain for peaceable People and their willingness to use state violence to squash their rights."
In a critical policy document published in September, the NSSF explained, "NSSF is committed to ensuring that these specific MCCs not be used at all as they have the potential for exploitation of customer privacy and denial of services by politically-motivated activists. These codes were the product of Amalgamated Bank and Andrew Ross Sorkin to specifically track the lawful purchases of firearms and ammunition by law-abiding Americans.
"In reality, it is just the first step, by the admission of these two parties, to isolating and eventually denying the exercise of a Constitutional right by those who oppose lawful firearm ownership. NSSF will continue to work with state legislators and Congress to put an end to this blatantly discriminatory practice of using private enterprise to construct a back-door firearm registry."
FPC reported the bill's unusual genesis in a post to X just over a year ago explaining, "A California bill regarding multifamily housing has been amended into one that would force banks to use a separate merchant category code for gun stores."A California bill regarding multifamily housing has been amended into one that would force banks to use a separate merchant category code for gun stores: https://t.co/CxLUddgHFm pic.twitter.com/gnToUmdDBA
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) June 14, 2023
A May post to X from the ASU Center for the Study of Guns in Society also revealed that the gun purchase data from the California law will be shared with University researchers.
It's a fascinating time at the intersection of guns & privacy:
— ASU Center for the Study of Guns in Society (@ASU_CSGS) May 10, 2024
- many states have banned gun merchant codes to track purchasing
- Colorado just required them
- And...California is moving forward with gun owner data to be shared with university researchers https://t.co/pzbGyxIRrq
As the AP observed, the merchant code, intended to help track firearms purchases more easily could potentially backfire and lead more purchasers to make their firearms transactions the old-fashioned way: in cash. Dan Eldridge, the proprietor of Maxson's Shooting Supplies near Chicago told the newswire that he's already installed an ATM in his shop in anticipation of the reclassification.
"Viewed most benignly, this code is an effort to stigmatize gun owners," Eldridge told the AP. "But a more worrisome concern is that this is another private sector end run around the prohibition against the federal government creating a gun registry."
For corrections or revisions, click here.
The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
Comments
2024-07-04T12:03-0400 | Comment by: Terry
Next it will be liquor, tobacco, red meat and anything else the Commonwealth of Kalifornica deems unsafe........
2024-07-04T15:03-0400 | Comment by: Laurence
Another scheme to harass and track law-abiding gun owners in Communist California. Exactly what do the bureaucrats intend to do with all that data? And how about tracking every criminal illegal who sneaks into the state, or a database of every drug dealer smuggling from Mexico? The sooner jerks like Newsom are kicked out of office, the batter.