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