Gun shop national divide: Should credit card sales be tracked?
- California to track gun shop credit card sales
- Colorado, New York also passed measures on guns
- 17 other states prohibiting firearms store code
Guns for sale are displayed at Maxon Shooter’s Supplies in Des Plaines, Ill., Tuesday, June 25, 2024. A new national divide is emerging among states over whether to track sales by gun stores. A California law taking effect Monday will require credit card networks to provide banks with special retail codes to assign to gun stores. By contrast, new laws taking effect in Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee and Wyoming will prohibit the use of special gun shop codes in financial transactions. A total of 17 states have passed some sort of limit on category codes for gun retailers, while California has been joined by Colorado and New York. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
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(NewsNation) — Major credit card companies in California are now required to provide banks with special retail codes that can be assigned to gun stores in order to track their sales.
At the same time, Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee and Wyoming are banning the use of specific gun shop codes.
The conflicting mandates highlight what has quietly emerged as one of the nation’s newest gun policy debates, dividing state capitols along familiar partisan lines.
Some Democratic lawmakers and gun-control activists hope the new retail tracking code will help financial institutions flag suspicious gun-related purchases for law enforcement agencies, potentially averting mass shootings and other crimes.
Democratic-led legislatures in Colorado and New York also passed measures mandating firearms codes that will go into effect next year.
“The merchant category code is the first step in the banking system saying, `Enough! We’re putting our foot down,’” said Hudson Munoz, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Guns Down America. “`You cannot use our system to facilitate gun crimes.’”
Many Republican lawmakers and gun-rights advocates fear the retail code could lead to unwarranted suspicion of gun buyers who have done nothing wrong. Over the past 16 months, 17 states with GOP-led legislatures have passed measures prohibiting a firearms store code or limiting its use.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.