A bill signed by Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee would prohibit financial institutions from specifically tracking gun and ammunition purchases.
Tennessee Governor Signs Bill Preventing Financial Institutions From Conducting Unauthorized Surveillance Of Gun Buyers https://t.co/8VKO7XCHn5 pic.twitter.com/AxLJekzCFy
— Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) April 25, 2024
House Bill 2762, also called the “Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act,” would stop banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions from making gun retailers use a specific merchant code “that distinguishes a firearms retailer from a general merchandise retailer or a sporting goods retailer.”
The legislation would prohibit the declining of credit card transactions by financial institutions “based solely on the assignment or non-assignment of a firearms merchant category code.”
It also outlaws government entities from keeping a registry of privately owned firearms or gun owners in Tennessee.
Usually, all retailers are assigned merchant codes based on what they sell so that banks and credit card companies can track purchasing patterns and protect against fraud. The merchant codes of gun retailers are included with those of other shops like stores that sell sporting goods.
However, in 2022, credit card companies Visa and Mastercard announced that they would start categorizing firearm and ammunition purchases separately. While gun control lobbyists championed the plan, claiming that it will allow easier tracking of gun sales and prevent mass shootings, many on the right stood against the plan.
Earlier this year, Rep. Rusty Grills (R-TN) introduced the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act to “protect the Second Amendment rights of all those in Tennessee.”
It was then approved by the state House and Senate earlier in the month.
Grills said during a conversation with The Daily Wire that he found the idea of financial institutions creating “a database” of gun buyers concerning, as many corporations are being led by “capitalist woke folks.”
Hence, he believes the newly signed law will leave no chance for any potential efforts by institutions to interfere with the Second Amendment rights of Tennesseans.
