Indiana, Kentucky attorneys general warn that tracking gun sales could violate privacy laws

9/24/2022

Kentucky and Indiana’s attorneys general are urging credit card companies to avoid tracking purchases of guns and ammunition.

Attorneys General Daniel Cameron and Todd Rokita signed onto a 24-state coalition that warns banks, American Express, Mastercard and Visa that tracking guns and ammo purchases may violate privacy laws.

“Tracking and monitoring firearm and ammo purchases place the information of Kentucky’s law-abiding gun owners at risk of being misused by those who oppose the exercise of our Second Amendment rights,” Cameron said in a news release Wednesday.

“This monitoring policy is part of an ongoing trend that aims to force policies that cannot be achieved through a democratic process onto society through back-door maneuvering in the marketplace.

I’ll continue to stand against those brazen attempts to take away our rights.”

The coalition’s action follows a decision by the International Organization for Standardization to create a Merchant Category Code for gun stores to use when processing credit and debit card transactions.

Attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming and West Virginia signed the letter.

“Americans are tired of seeing corporate leverage used to advance political goals that cannot muster basic democratic support,” the letter says.

“The Second Amendment is a fundamental right, but it’s also a fundamental American value. Our financial institutions should stop lending their market power to those who wish to attack that value.”