Republican Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte enacted a bill last week that would bar financial institutions from requiring that retailers in the state apply a special code to track firearms purchases.
Last year, a committee on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)—a Switzerland-based organization that sets and monitors quality standards for a variety of industries—voted to establish a new merchant category code (MCC) for firearms. The firearms-specific MCC would allow financial institutions to track gun sales separately from the “general merchandise” category on other retail products.
Gun rights advocates have pushed back against the firearms-specific MCCs, and lawmakers in several states have begun pursuing legislation to block the gun-purchase tracking agenda….