Kentucky Law Banning Credit Card Codes for Gun Purchases Goes Into Effect
Author: Jack Collins | Publish Date: Jul 26, 2024
In March, Kentucky lawmakers passed the Second Amendment Privacy Act. This law prohibits credit card companies from using Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) to track gun- and ammo-related purchases. Any companies that use these codes will not be able to do business in Kentucky.
The law went into effect on July 15 2024. In addition to the ban on gun-related MCCs, it also prohibits government agencies from keeping any lists of guns or firearm owners in the state.
What are MCCs and Why Do They Matter?
MCCs are codes that credit card companies assign to different categories of purchases. The International Organization for Standardization, which maintains the system, has created about 500 such codes so far.
Implementing an MCC to track gun purchases may not seem like a big deal to someone who’s unfamiliar with the practice. But it’s actually a huge invasion of privacy for gun owners. These kinds of codes essentially work as a backdoor gun registry. Gun registries are federally illegal under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993.
That’s why states have banned the practice. So far, 16 states have enacted some law banning gun-related MCCs, including:
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Florida
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Montana
- North Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Florida and Idaho led the charge here. Both of them have had laws on the books protecting the privacy of their gun owners since July of 2023.
The Big Picture
One important piece of context here is that California’s law requiring MCCs for guns goes into effect on July 1. This means that any company doing business in California needs to use one of these codes. California initially passed the law in 2022.
Colorado passed a similar law earlier this year, making it the second state to do so. That means states are banning firearm MCCs nine times faster than they’re trying to implement them.
I doubt we’ve seen the last state implement these kinds of laws. Places like New Hampshire and Ohio are currently considering similar laws, and it seems like they’ll pass them in the near future. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.