Allowing Credit Card Companies to Track Gun Purchases  by John R. Elwood

In 2022, the International Organization of Standards (ISO) announced it would create a Merchant Category Code (MCC) for gun and ammunition purchases for credit card companies to use.  Who is the ISO, and what is an MCC? 

The International Organization of Standardization (ISO) is an independent, non-governmental (NGO), international organization.  It applauds itself by saying it brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.  It began in 1946  and, today, it has a membership of 170 national standard bodies.  The ISO is an NGO that has an accredited status with the United Nations’ (UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs and is headquartered out of Geneva, Switzerland.  The United States has access to the ISO through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). 

A Merchant Category Code (MCC) is a four-digit code that credit card that companies use to identify the type of business that is processing a financial transaction – such as hardware stores, department stores or gasoline stations.  The code serves several purposes including whether a business needs to report a particular transaction to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and calculating consumer cash back rewards. 

Prior to this change, guns and ammunition stores were categorized as sporting goods or miscellaneous general merchandise stores. 

Who is leading this effort?

The usual suspects in gun control efforts, Democrat Senators Menendez and Warren, led an effort urging the United States Treasury and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide guidance to financial institutions for the full implementation of these guns and ammunition codes.  Senator Elizabeth Warren stated, “We need implementation across the country if we’re going to do everything, we can to prevent gun violence.   The sooner credit card companies and banks begin using the new merchant code for gun retailers and tracking suspicious gun purchases, the more mass shootings we will have a shot at preventing before they occur”.  (A statement based on no factual studies.)  The organization Guns Down America supported this effort, calling on companies to make the gun store code available in every state where it is not banned. 

Senators Menendez and Warren wrote to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Attorney General Merrick Garland stating, “We believe the new MCC code has the potential to help reduce gun violence and save lives.”  The Senators highlighted in most mass shootings between 2007 and 2018, credit cards or debit cards were used to acquire the guns and ammunition used in the attack.

(Most cars in auto wrecks were probably financed with car loans so is the answer to auto crashes a new MCC category for auto loans?) 

A resistance formed.  Later in 2023, inspired by an uproar from Second Amendment Constituents, Republicans in the United State Senate pushed back.  Several states also launched a legislative effort that shut down the effort to track purchases of firearms and ammunition.  At least seven Republican-controlled state legislatures have banned MCCs for gun and ammunition purchases, while nine other legislatures are considering similar legislation.  States that have already banned MCCs include Wisconsin, West Virginia, Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota, Montana, Texas, and Florida.  Under the “Florida Arms and Ammo Act”, credit cards companies can be fined up to $10,000 if they track gun and ammunition sales. 

Great, now we can rest?  Not so fast!

The MCC for gun and ammunition purchase is back!

Major credit card companies (Mastercard, Visa, American Express) are moving forward to make an MCC available for firearm and ammunition retailers in order to comply with a new California law that will allow banks to potentially track suspicious gun purchases and report them to law enforcement by May 2025.  Gun control activists hope the code can be used as a tool to help identify suspect purchases and stop gun crime including mass shootings.

What is the big deal? 

Bankers have the expertise to identify potential criminals who will misuse firearms? 

What’s a suspicious purchase…more than one box of ammo?

Some people don’t have to use a credit card or debit card to purchase firearms or ammunition, they can use cash or pay with a check.  But, what if the federal government goes to an all-digital currency like a digital dollar, and cash is not available?   If that were to happen, and that is not out of the realm of possibilities because Democrats in the U.S Government are currently looking to move to a digital dollar.  If implemented, EVERY purchase you make, including gun and ammunition purchases, will be monitored by the U.S. Government. 

(Not doing enough for climate change by buying what the government considers too much meat?  The digital dollar will tell on you, too!)

The National Rifle Association (NRA) vehemently denounces the use of a firearm-specific Merchant Category Code (MCC) as a clear infringement of the sacred Second Amendment rights of every American.  An NRA representative stated, “Orchestrated by left-wing institutions and anti-gun lobbyists, this underhanded maneuver aims to bypass federal laws, effectively implementing a de facto national firearms registry and trampling the Constitution.  Amid an environment where lawful gun sales already undergo rigorous scrutiny, this scheme represents an unprecedented assault on the privacy of law-abiding gun owners”.  

A gun expert stated, “If governments or credit card companies start to require certain purchase patterns at gun stores be reported to police, that could put a lot of innocent people under suspicion depending on how broad the criteria are”.

We have been warned!  California’s move to institute a gun and ammunition MCC is a warning to New York State gun owners.  Now, what are we going to do about it? 

The New York State organization, Shooter’s Committee on Political Education (SCOPE) OPPOSES this attempt by the left-wing Democrat Party to restrict the privacy of gun owners when they purchase a gun or buy ammunition.  We do so because: 

The NRA-ILA summarizes it nicely: “Several provisions in federal law, but most notably a key part of the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986, prohibit the federal government from centralizing most firearm records into a registry. The new MCC could provide a way for the government to outsource the creation of a registry that the government itself is prohibited from creating. If banks and payment processors share their records with the government, that would be a major step towards the registration of all gun owners in America.”

Gun owners know what comes after national registry…CONFISCATION. 

Just as important, it is not the responsibility of an INTERNATIONAL non-governmental (administrative bureaucracy) like the ISO to pass laws on citizens of the United States.  Public-private partnerships DO NOT make legislation, the United States Congress makes our laws!

This is a great example of why It is important to remind each and every American that every AMERICAN must continue to be involved in the legislative process and to ensure that your representatives are fighting to protect your Constitutional rights”. 

Let’s not assume someone else will fight this battle.  Let’s get involved now! 

The hour is late in the fight to protect the United States Constitution.