Begich votes to prohibit separate credit-card codes for gun stores

Rep. Nick Begich voted Tuesday to bar credit card networks from flagging firearm purchases with a special code, joining a 221-201 House majority that passed the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act.

Begich is Alaska's lone U.S. House member. The bill, H.R. 1181, would prohibit credit card networks and the banks that process their transactions from requiring or assigning a merchant category code that singles out firearms retailers — the classification tags attached to every business that takes card payments, which would sort a gun shop apart from a general sporting-goods store.

The dispute dates to 2022, when an international standards body created a code specifically for gun and ammunition sellers. Visa, Mastercard, and American Express paused using it the next year amid legal uncertainty and never resumed. States then split: California moved to require the code, while more than a dozen others banned it. H.R. 1181 would replace that patchwork with a single national prohibition, overriding state and local laws in either direction.

Backers, including Second Amendment and hunting groups such as the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, say a firearm-specific code could let financial institutions flag and track lawful gun purchases one transaction at a time, building a de facto registry. Opponents on the House Financial Services Committee say the same code could help states and banks spot suspicious purchasing patterns before they turn into violence.

The bill now heads to the Senate.