Arizona’s Proposed Blockchain Gun Tracking Ban Pushes Ahead

An effort by Arizona lawmakers to prohibit the tracking of guns using blockchain technology has now progressed to the Senate.

As CoinDesk reported earlier this month, a proposed new bill would prevent the use distributed ledgers in firearm tracking, with the exception of law-enforcement applications.

The concept, put forward by technologists in the blockchain space, is that such a system could create an immutable history of transactions that records every time a gun is fired, for example.

The proposed bill, HB 2216, has now cleared the Arizona House of Representatives by a 34-25 vote, with one no-vote and no abstentions, and has since moved to the Senate, where it awaits further consideration.

While the Senate is a separate legislative entity, its makeup – with a Republican majority, like the House – perhaps indicates that the measure will continue to garner support among lawmakers.

The advancement of the measure further demonstrates a growing trend within US state legislatures to act on bitcoin and blockchain issues.

Lawmakers in North Dakota and New Hampshire are weighing changes to their respective state statutes. Meanwhile, a concurrent measure in the Arizona legislature focused on blockchain-based smart contracts has also been submitted.

Gun image via Shutterstock