(KXNET) — State lawmakers are one step closer to passing a law that protects legal gun buyers in North Dakota.

On Monday, April 24, House lawmakers said ‘yes’ to House Bill 1487 — which is meant to stop credit card companies from using merchant category codes (or MCCs) to track sales of guns and ammunition.

Under the bill, a financial company may not decline a person who’s using his or her credit card to buy a legal gun solely because of a firearms code. It also says the company may not use those codes to track or suppress a person’s right to buy guns or ammunition.

“The Senate adopted amendments in their policy committee that were brought by the bill sponsor to essentially make sure that there was a compromise between the financial institutions,” explained Representative Ben Koppelman, “the attorney general’s office and the sponsor.”

The bill also gives the Attorney General’s office authority to penalize a company that violates the law with a fine of up to $10,000.