Republican Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte enacted a bill last week that would bar financial institutions from requiring that retailers in the state apply a special code to track firearms purchases.
Gun rights advocates have pushed back against the firearms-specific MCCs, and lawmakers in several states have begun pursuing legislation to block the gun-purchase tracking agenda.
The Montana Senate passed the bill in March, followed by the state House in April. Gianforte signed the bill into law on May 19.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a firearms industry trade association, celebrated the passage of the bill.
States Pushing Back on Gun-Purchase Tracking
Montana is one of several states that have pushed back on the firearm-specific MCC system. West Virginia, Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Florida have passed similar laws in recent months.Gun Violence Prevention Tool or Backdoor Registry?
Gun-control proponents like Guns Down America, The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and New Yorkers Against Gun Violence all praised the ISO after it voted to move ahead with the firearms MCC system in September. In a joint statement, the gun-control advocates said several mass shootings had followed gun purchases with electronic payments.“Credit card purchases have consistently been involved in some of our nation’s worst mass shootings. Credit card companies have rules to stop fraud and human trafficking. This common-sense decision means the same rules will apply to guns, making it easier to stop illegal firearms-related activity,” said Guns Down America founder Igor Volsky.
Opponents of the firearms MCC have, by contrast, argued that the system would intrude on the privacy of gun owners and lead to harassment.
The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legal Action (NRA-ILA) argued that the MCC system would provide a legal backdoor for a gun registry, which is currently prohibited under federal law.
“Purposefully tracking this information can only result in its misuse, either unintentional or deliberate,” the 24 state attorney generals wrote.
The 24 attorney generals said even outside of creating a backdoor gun registry for the government, the MCC system still creates “the obvious risk that law-abiding consumers’ information will be leaked, discovered, hacked, or otherwise obtained and misused by those who oppose Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights.”