November 4, 2024
By Rep. Andy Barr , Rep. Elise Stefanik
Under the Biden-Harris Administration, there has been an unconstitutional and relentless attack on the Second Amendment rights and privacies of American citizens. In September 2023, gun-grabbing organizations and far Left politicians including New York Attorney General Letitia James cheered on the creation of a new Merchant Category Code (MCC) for firearms retailers within the payment processing system.
MCCs, seemingly introduced for regulatory or monitoring purposes, carry significant implications for the privacy of consumers and equitable treatment of lawful transactions.
The creation of MCCs specifically for firearms retailers is weaponizing the financial system against lawful gun owners by seeking to label and track transactions on firearms and ammunition. To counteract this infringement on our rights, we introduced the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act.
Our bill aims to ensure that firearms retailers are not unjustly targeted by payment card networks or other financial entities, and purchases by law-abiding citizens are protected from monitoring and denial by the government. Specifically, our bill ensures that firearms retailers are not considered differently than general or sporting goods merchants.
This protection preserves the privacy of Americans making lawful purchases, prevents the creation of a backdoor registry of gun owners, and guarantees that legal commerce is not unfairly surveilled or impeded based on the nature of the goods sold.
The need for this legislation has increased as numerous unelected bureaucrats and global standard-setting bodies attempt to influence U.S. institutions to infringe on the constitutional rights of the American people. These Left-leaning groups, which often operate without any transparency or accountability to the American people, propose frameworks that don’t align with the interests or values of our country.
The U.S. payment system facilitates frictionless transactions allowing Americans to quickly access goods and services and in turn strengthen our economy. We should not politicize our payment system or allow liberal groups to use global standard setting bodies to push their social agenda at the expense of the privacy and rights of our citizens.
While credit card companies paused the implementation of the code and several states and passed laws to block it, liberal states like California have mandated its implementation, making federal action necessary to set a nationwide standard.
Feedback from our constituents has been clear, consistent, and vocal: They have legitimate concerns about being unfairly targeted or monitored for participating in lawful and constitutional activities. Our critical legislation ensures that firearms and ammunition retailers are not singled out for special scrutiny by the financial system.
By preventing the establishment of distinct MCCs for these retailers, we are making it clear that the act of purchasing a rifle for hunting, a handgun for personal protection, or ammunition for sport shooting deserves the same level of privacy as any other legal transaction. Our commitment to this principle is unwavering and founded on the belief that the privacy of American consumers should never be compromised.
