JEFFERSON CITY — Twenty states have enacted laws prohibiting the use of unique merchant category codes to distinguish firearm purchases, and Missouri could be the 21st.
Majority Caucus Whip Sen. Jill Carter, R-Granby, proposed Senate Bill 1128 in a Senate committee Monday, proposing the "Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act."
SB 1128 prohibits government entities from keeping a list, record or registry of privately owned firearms. Records may be kept during a criminal investigation and prosecution on gun ownership.
The bill also prohibits credit card networks from using a merchant category code to distinguish firearm sales from any other sale.
"This bill draws a clear line," Carter said at the hearing. "Lawful gun ownership must never be treated as inherently suspicious."
Kentucky, Tennessee and Iowa passed similar laws in 2024 banning the use of unique merchant category codes for firearms.
Darren LaSorte from the National Shooting Sports Foundation spoke in favor of the bill, and its ability to prevent citizens from being investigated for purchasing firearms and equipment at a gun store.
"This is stuff that if I talked about seven years ago, you'd throw me in a padded room and call me a conspiracy theorist," LaSorte said. "It's happening now, and what this bill does is simply prohibits it from happening in the state of Missouri."
If passed in Missouri, the attorney general could investigate anyone suspected of violating these laws and provide a 30-day notice. If changes are not made, the attorney general can file a lawsuit against the violator. Violators can receive a civil penalty of up to $1,000.
A similar bill, SB 216, was introduced in 2025, but it did not make it to the Senate floor.