Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, and Rep. John Snyder, R-Stuart, have filed a proposal aimed at preventing the use of separate codes for credit-card purchases of firearms and ammunition.
Burgess and Snyder filed identical bills (SB 214 and HB 221) on Tuesday, after joining Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson last week at an appearance about the issue.
Simpson said the proposal is intended to prohibit financial institutions from collecting and monitoring information on Floridians’ firearm and ammunition purchases.
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The issue deals, in part, with what is known as a “merchant category code” that is assigned to credit-card transactions.
Credit-card companies have moved forward with plans for a separate category for firearms sales, a move that supporters say can help track suspicious sales tied to such things as potential mass shootings. But the newly filed bills would prevent a separate code for sales of firearms and ammunition.
The bills contend that “creation or maintenance of records of purchases of firearms or ammunition or the tracking of sales made by a retailer of firearms or ammunition by a nongovernmental entity, including a financial institution, without a substantial and historical business need or a requirement imposed by law, may frustrate the right to keep and bear arms and violate the reasonable privacy rights of lawful purchasers of firearms or ammunition.”
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The bills are filed for consideration during the legislative session that will start March 7.
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