A New Florida Bill Would Prevent Credit Card Companies From Tracking Gun, Ammo Purchases

A change in classification of gun purchases promoted the change.

An uptick in gun violence in recent years has made gun control a major issue on a national scale. But in spite of that, the Constitution does give consumers the right to bear arms. And now, some Florida lawmakers have banded together to prevent credit card companies from tracking those purchases under a new categorization system.

Lawmakers seek to protect gun owners

Florida officials have proposed legislation that prevents the tracking of firearm and ammunition purchases. State Senator Danny Burgess and Representative John Snyder, both Republicans, are introducing the "Florida Arms and Ammo Act" with the backing of Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.

This bill was spurred by an announcement made last year after the world's largest payment processors said they will adopt the International Organization for Standardization's new merchant code for gun shop sales. Prior to this change, firearm and ammunition purchases were categorized as general merchandise. The fear is that once this change is implemented, those seeking to purchase firearms and ammunition may have their right to do so violated, or encounter difficulties in completing the purchases they have the right to make.

It's also unclear as to how credit card companies might use this information. Some lawmakers may be concerned that credit card issuers might treat consumers with a history of gun purchases differently, such as extending lower purchase limits.

Of course, gun control advocates have argued that having a separate merchant code for firearm and ammo purchases could help address the problem of gun violence. And also, it's common practice for credit card purchases to be bucketed into different categories in the first place, so categorizing gun and ammo purchases isn't such a stretch. After all, if credit card companies can have a special code for airlines and supermarkets, why can't they have one for gun merchants?

An ongoing matter of debate

Ultimately, lawmakers fighting this recent change are making the argument that categorizing gun and ammo purchases might in some way limit consumers' ability to make these purchases, or otherwise negatively impact them in a different way. And so we may see bills similar to the one Florida lawmakers have proposed come down the pike.

Ultimately, it's hard to know what will come of the new Florida bill, since the matter at hand is complicated. But the reality is that categorizing credit card purchases has long been standard, so it almost raises the question of why firearm purchases haven't been similarly tracked in the first place.

At this point, consumers will have to wait and see how this situation plays out. In the meantime, those who are worried about being impacted by this change can contact their state representatives to share their concerns.