Current:Home > FinanceGun policy debate now includes retail tracking codes in California -Aspire Money Growth
Gun policy debate now includes retail tracking codes in California
View
Date:2025-04-14 03:58:30
Laws taking effect Monday in California and Tennessee highlight the nation's stark divide over guns: While the former is looking to help banks track potentially suspicious gun purchases in hopes of thwarting mass shootings and other firearm-related homicides, the latter is seeking to prohibit the practice.
Major credit card companies as of today have to make a merchant code available for firearm and ammunition retailers to comply with California's new law to aid banks in monitoring gun sales and flag suspicious cases to authorities. The law requires retailers that primarily sell firearms to adopt the code by May 2025.
Democratic-led legislatures in Colorado and New York this year also passed measures mandating firearms codes that kick in next year.
The idea behind a gun merchant code is to detect suspicious activity, such as a person with no history of buying firearms suddenly spending large sums at multiple gun stores in a short period of time. After being notified by banks, law enforcement authorities could investigate and possibly prevent a mass shooting, gun control advocates contend.
On the other side of the issue, gun-rights advocates are concerned the retail code could impose unfair scrutiny on law-abiding gun purchasers. During the past 16 months, 17 states with Republican-controlled legislatures have passed bills banning a firearms store code or curtailing its use.
"We view this as a first step by gun-control supporters to restrict the lawful commerce in firearms," Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told the Associated Press.
California's measure coincides with a separate state law in Tennessee that bans the use of firearm-specific merchant codes, with the National Rifle Association lauding it as protecting the financial privacy of gun owners.
Mastercard, Visa and American Express worked to comply with the new California measure, as CBS News reported earlier in the year. The credit card networks had initially agreed to implement a standalone code for firearm sellers, but put that effort on hold after objections from gun-rights advocates.
Credit cards are used to facilitate gun crimes all across America, according to Guns Down America, which argues at retail codes could prevent violence stemming from cases of straw purchases, gun trafficking and mass casualty events.
A report by the nonprofit advocacy cited eight mass shootings that possibly could have been prevented, including the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting and the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, because each perpetrator used credit cards to mass arsenals in a short period of time.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy last week decried gun violence to be an escalating public health crisis, with more than 48,000 Americans killed with firearms in 2022.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.
- In:
- Gun Control
Kate Gibson is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch in New York, where she covers business and consumer finance.
veryGood! (59518)
Related
- Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
- Two Areas in Rural Arizona Might Finally Gain Protection of Their Groundwater This Year
- Tomato shortages hit British stores. Is Brexit to blame?
- Suspect wanted for 4 murders in Georgia killed in standoff with police
- Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
- Delta Air Lines pilots approve contract to raise pay by more than 30%
- If you're getting financial advice from TikTok influencers don't stop there
- Ford slashes price of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- Pollinator-Friendly Solar Could be a Win-Win for Climate and Landowners, but Greenwashing is a Worry
Ranking
- All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
- The Biden Administration’s Embrace of Environmental Justice Has Made Wary Activists Willing to Believe
- Tesla factory produces Cybertruck nearly 4 years after Elon Musk unveiled it
- Bison gores woman at Yellowstone National Park
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- Cartoonists say a rebuke of 'Dilbert' creator Scott Adams is long overdue
- Berta Cáceres’ Murder Shocked the World in 2016, But the Killing of Environmental Activists Continues
- Inside Clean Energy: The Solar Boom Arrives in Ohio
Recommendation
'Vanderpump Rules' star DJ James Kennedy arrested on domestic violence charges
Inside Clean Energy: Arizona’s Net-Zero Plan Unites Democrats and Republicans
Cardi B Is an Emotional Proud Mommy as Her and Offset's Daughter Kulture Graduates Pre-K
A multiverse of 'Everything Everywhere' props are auctioned, raising $555K for charity
This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
Alyson Stoner Says They Were Fired from Children’s Show After Coming Out as Queer
Emergency slide fell from United Airlines plane as it flew into Chicago O'Hare airport
Transcript: Rep. Michael McCaul on Face the Nation, July 16, 2023