When it comes to protecting the Second Amendment, some states are leading the charge while others are doing everything they can to stomp all over your rights. South Dakota just planted its flag firmly on the side of freedom, and it’s about time more states followed suit.
Here’s the deal — if you’ve been following the latest nonsense coming out of anti-gun states like New Jersey, you already know they’re pushing to slap a special Merchant Category Code (MCC) on gun purchases. For anyone who doesn’t speak bureaucratic gobbledygook, that means every time you buy a gun, some ammo, or even basic accessories with your credit card, the transaction gets tagged with a code that screams “GUN BUYER HERE!” to banks, credit card companies, and eventually, government snoops.
This isn’t some conspiracy theory cooked up on a message board — it’s exactly what anti-gun politicians and activist groups want. They want a private-sector backdoor to track who’s buying firearms and how often. They want a de facto gun registry without having to pass a law creating one. And if they can intimidate law-abiding Americans out of buying guns in the process, well, that’s just a bonus for them.
But not in South Dakota. Governor Larry Rhoden just signed Senate Bill 81 into law, slamming the brakes on this whole scheme inside his state’s borders. Under the new law, it’s illegal for banks or payment processors to use a firearms-specific MCC to track purchases. If they do it anyway, they’re looking at civil penalties. In other words, South Dakota just told the credit card companies to pound sand — and good for them.
Rhoden wasn’t shy about why he signed the bill either. “I am proud to protect our Second Amendment rights with the signing of this bill,” he said. “South Dakota has seen strong growth of our firearm industry, and this bill will help that continue.” That’s the kind of unapologetic pro-gun leadership other governors should take notes on.
And here’s the kicker — this wasn’t some left vs. right cage match. This was common sense, supported by both South Dakota’s firearms industry and its banking sector. That’s a rare thing these days, but it goes to show just how overreaching and ridiculous the MCC scheme really is. Even bankers — not exactly known for being gun rights crusaders — saw this as a step too far.
If you haven’t been paying attention, this MCC fight started back in 2022, when the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) — the folks who decide how businesses get categorized for credit card transactions — caved to pressure from anti-gun activists and introduced a dedicated code just for gun stores. Before that, gun retailers got lumped in with sporting goods stores or miscellaneous retail. It wasn’t perfect, but at least it didn’t put a giant target on your back just for buying a Glock or a box of .223.
Once the new code hit the books, the gun grabbers wasted no time demanding its mandatory use in anti-gun states like California and Colorado. Pro-gun states, on the other hand, saw this for exactly what it was — a backdoor registry designed to intimidate gun owners and set the stage for future crackdowns. Utah, Kentucky, Iowa, Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Indiana all passed laws last year banning the use of firearm MCCs. Now, South Dakota has joined that list — and not a moment too soon.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which has been fighting this battle tooth and nail, gave Rhoden and South Dakota a well-deserved round of applause. Lawrence Keane, NSSF’s senior vice president and general counsel, didn’t mince words. “Governor Rhoden is taking a strong stand against ‘woke’ Wall Street banks that seek to intrude on the private financial transaction when South Dakotans exercise their lawful right to buy firearms and ammunition,” Keane said.
And he’s absolutely right. This isn’t just about privacy — it’s about treating gun owners like second-class citizens. Imagine if your credit card company flagged every time you bought a Bible, a pickup truck, or a steak. Sounds insane, right? But that’s exactly the mentality driving this push to track gun buyers — they want to stigmatize lawful gun ownership and make it feel like something dirty.
Let’s not kid ourselves — this whole scheme is also about laying the groundwork for financial blacklisting. Once banks and payment processors have a neat little list of “problematic” gun buyers, what’s to stop them from denying you a loan, canceling your account, or reporting you to law enforcement because you dared to buy two rifles in one month? If you think that sounds paranoid, you haven’t been paying attention to how corporate America operates in 2025.
South Dakota saw this threat coming from a mile away, and they acted decisively. They didn’t wait for some lawsuit years down the road — they cut the head off the snake before it could slither into their state. That’s the kind of proactive defense of our rights we need to see more of.
Meanwhile, New Jersey — and states like it — continue to fall all over themselves to treat gun owners like criminals-in-waiting. They call it “common sense gun reform,” but it’s really just a creeping form of authoritarian control. Every gun purchase logged, every sale tracked, every law-abiding citizen under suspicion simply for exercising a Constitutional right.
If you live in a state like South Dakota, count your blessings. If you don’t — well, it might be time to start asking your legislators why they’re more interested in snooping on law-abiding gun owners than stopping actual criminals. Because here’s the truth anti-gun politicians don’t want to hear: Law-abiding gun owners are not the problem — they’re the solution.
So hats off to South Dakota. They stood up for gun owners, for privacy, and for the simple fact that buying a firearm in America shouldn’t come with a scarlet letter attached. Let’s hope more states have the courage to follow their lead — because this fight is far from over.
