West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore today assailed a new credit card tracking scheme for gun and ammunition purchases that he said is just the latest attempt by liberal lawmakers to undermine citizens’ Second Amendment rights.
“The radical D.C. liberals are once again colluding with their woke corporate allies to undermine our Constitutional freedoms and American way of life,” Treasurer Moore said. “This proposed scheme to track gun and ammunition sales is the next step toward a national gun registry and could illegally allow the federal government to track and monitor our private lives.”
On Sept. 9, a panel of the International Organization for Standardization – a nongovernmental organization that develops a wide range of industrial and commercial standards – approved a petition by New York-based Amalgamated Bank for the creation of a new “merchant category code” (MCC) for gun retailers. Merchant category codes are used by credit card companies to identify the type of business in which a merchant is engaged.
Amalgamated Bank’s petition was supported by a wide range of gun control advocacy groups and liberal politicians, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Advocates for the switch are urging the nation’s major credit card companies to use the code to begin monitoring gun and ammunition purchases. If they flag something that they believe seems odd, they could then notify law enforcement and share that data in order to investigate or make an arrest.
Treasurer Moore said this new scheme not only flies in the face of Americans’ Second Amendment rights but could potentially violate laws prohibiting the federal government from establishing a national gun registry.
“Lawmakers like Elizabeth Warren know this type of tracking system couldn’t pass Constitutional muster if implemented by Congress, so instead they’re outsourcing this data collection and tracking to their allies in private industry,” Treasurer Moore said. “This is a clear end-run around our citizens’ Second Amendment rights and it must be stopped either by the credit card companies that have been asked to implement it or by law if necessary.”
Treasurer Moore said this proposal is yet another example of extremist politicians and radical globalist powers using the tools of woke capitalism to force their values on Americans’ way of life.
“I have long been saying woke capitalism, ESG regulations and these ‘socially responsible’ business schemes are nothing but a slippery slope designed to force us to bend the knee to these extremist social agendas,” Treasurer Moore said. “This credit card gun tracking is the latest step in their attempt to force West Virginians to comply with their anti-American agenda.”