The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on July 16, 2026, that bars the use of merchant category codes for firearm retailers [1], [2].
This legislation targets the ability of credit-card companies to identify and track the purchase of firearms. By removing these specific codes, the bill aims to prevent financial institutions from monitoring gun sales and to stop individual states from adopting similar tracking mechanisms [1], [2].
The use of merchant category codes allows banks and payment processors to categorize transactions by the type of business where a purchase was made. Supporters of the bill said this system creates a digital trail of firearm ownership that could be used to target law-abiding citizens [2].
The measure seeks to pre-empt state-level efforts to implement merchant-code tracking [1]. By establishing a federal standard, the bill intends to ensure that gun-buyer privacy is maintained across all jurisdictions, regardless of local laws [1], [2].
Legislators focused on the intersection of financial data and the Second Amendment during the process. The bill specifically addresses the technical methods used by credit-card companies to flag firearm-related transactions, a practice that critics argue bypasses traditional privacy protections [2].
Because the bill passed the House, it now moves toward further legislative steps in the federal process. The final outcome will depend on the bill's progress through the Senate and potential executive action [1].
“The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on July 16, 2026, that bars the use of merchant category codes for firearm retailers.”
This legislation represents a significant effort to decouple financial technology from firearm regulation. By banning merchant category codes for gun stores, the U.S. government would effectively blind credit-card companies to the specific nature of these transactions, preventing the creation of databases that could be used for public health research or law enforcement surveillance.
