LA AG Warns Banks on Firearm Purchase Tracking

BATON ROUGE, LA — Attorney General Jeff Landry is sounding the alarm over a corporate move he claims threatens the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners. Landry and 19 other state attorneys general have sent a sharply worded letter to the CEOs of American Express, MasterCard, and Visa, warning that a new Merchant Category Code (MCC) designed to track purchases from gun stores may violate consumer protection and antitrust laws.

The new code, pushed by international activists and adopted by the International Organization for Standardization, effectively creates a digital paper trail of firearm transactions. Landry argues this amounts to building a de facto list of gun buyers — a database he claims could be exploited by anti-Second Amendment groups or government agencies seeking to surveil lawful citizens. ‘Once again, liberal elites in corporate boardrooms are attempting to dictate policy that should be made by our legislative branch,’ Landry declared.

The coalition of attorneys general alleges the move is the product of transnational collusion, with big banks and global entities bypassing the democratic process to advance a political agenda. Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti called it ‘corporate collusion’ that undermines constitutional rights, while Montana AG Austin Knudsen condemned the ‘caving’ of credit card companies to international pressure, warning of ‘future invasions of consumer privacy.’

The letter emphasizes that financial institutions must not use their market dominance to circumvent elected lawmakers. Landry and his allies argue the partnership between credit card firms and state actors in creating the code could expose companies to civil and even criminal liability for conspiracy to deprive Americans of their civil rights. ‘Social policy should be debated and determined within our political institutions,’ the letter states, ‘not dictated by corporate fiat.’

Joining Landry in the legal warning were the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The multistate push signals a broader conservative legal front against perceived overreach by financial conglomerates.

With the Second Amendment under increasing scrutiny, Landry vows to use every legal tool at his disposal to shield Louisiana residents from what he calls ‘financial surveillance.’ The battle now shifts to whether federal regulators or the courts will intervene as tensions mount between corporate policy, international standards, and constitutional rights.

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