Wisconsin: Gun Owner Credit Card Data Privacy Bill Headed to Governor’s Desk

Today, January 18^th, the Wisconsin State Assembly passed Senate Bill 466 (which passed the Senate earlier this week). The Senate bill replaced the Assembly's version AB 468. This legislation prohibits the use of firearm/ammunition specific merchant category codes by payment processors. SB 466 provides critical reforms for gun owners, protecting private purchasing information from abuse by third parties. The bill is now headed for Governor Tony Evers' desk.  For more information click here. Please contact Governor Evers and urge him to SIGN SB 466!

In the Fall of 2022, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved a Merchant Category Code (MCC) for firearm retailers. MCCs are used by payment processors (like Visa and Mastercard) and other financial services companies to categorize transactions. MCCs enable payment processors and banks to identify, monitor, and collect data on certain types of transactions. Before the ISO decision, firearm retailers fell under the MCC for sporting goods stores or miscellaneous retail.

Collecting firearm retailer financial transaction data amounts to surveillance and registration of law-abiding gun owners. Those promoting this scheme are in favor of firearm and gun owner registrations. Therefore, it should be assumed that the goal of this program is to share all collected firearm retailer MCC data with government authorities and potentially private third parties that may include gun control organizations and anti-gun researchers.