By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Legislation introduced Tuesday by freshman Congressman Riley Moore (R-WV) would prevent financial institutions from using special “Merchant Category Codes” (MCC) to track gun and ammunition purchases made with credit cards.
At least one prominent organization, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, was quick to throw its support behind the measure, and encourage American gun owners to do likewise.
“Our hats are off to Rep. Moore and his colleagues,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Gun control advocates have tried all manner of privacy invasions over the years, and tracking personal purchases of legal, constitutionally-protected products is among the worst examples of such insidious efforts.”
The Washington Times is reporting that Moore is joined by at least 25 colleagues in sponsoring the Protecting Privacy in Purchasing Act (PPPA). He explained that banks and credit card companies should not be allowed to gather and store such purchasing information, the newspaper said.
“I’ve spent the better part of my short career in public service fighting financial institutions that push a political agenda,” Rep. Moore stated. “Let me be clear: Any attempt to collect data on Americans simply exercising their God-given rights is wrong, and I won’t stand for it.”
This is not the first time the legislation has been introduced, according to the Denver Gazette. An identical bill was introduced in 2023 by then-Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY). She is now serving as Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.
According to the Gazette report, the International Standards Organization “adopted a new four-digit code for gun and ammunition stores in 2022.” This was during the Biden administration, which seemed very interested in tracking gun and ammunition purchases by U.S. citizens. CCRKBA’s Gottlieb recalls that situation.
“The effort to establish a special four-digit MCC dates back to the Joe Biden era when the International Standards Organization approved creation of such a code,” he said. “It is unconscionable for financial institutions to create a system for collecting this sort of data on law-abiding citizens, so government can monitor their activities. This is the United States, not a police state, and there is no place in a free society for the collection of such information.
“It is none of anyone’s business what honest citizens buy and own,” Gottlieb argued, “and it is certainly none of the government’s business to micro-manage their lives. Passage of the PPPA will prevent such nonsense from becoming part of our government framework.”
The Washington Times noted Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) is the lead co-sponsor.
“The American people are fed up with gun-grabbing liberals’ attempts to encroach on their Constitutionally protected rights,” Hudson said in a press release.
The same release quoted others in the Second Amendment community who have also thrown their support to Moore’s legislation.
“Anti-gunners have repeatedly tried to weaponize financial institutions to de-bank the firearms industry and undermine the Second Amendment,” said Aidan Johnston, Director of Federal Affairs, Gun Owners of America. “The recent abuse of Merchant Category Codes to track gun owners is just the latest example of the violation of our privacy. Thank you to Representatives Moore, Hudson, and Barr for introducing this legislation to prohibit the tracking and backdoor registration of firearm and ammunition sales.”
“The implementation of Merchant Category Codes to surveil lawful purchases is nothing more than an ill-conceived attempt to create a de facto national firearms registry,” said John Commerford, Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action. “On behalf of millions of NRA members and gun owners nationwide, we thank Representatives Moore, Hudson, and Barr for protecting our Second Amendment rights and our privacy.”
“The Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act is an important bill to ensure that firearm and ammunition purchases are treated the same way as any other purchase rather than being arbitrarily singled out,” said Jeff Crane, President and CEO of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation. “The privacy of hunters, recreational shooters, and other firearm owners should be protected by financial institutions, just as any other type of transaction is protected, and we thank Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus Member Rep. Hudson for leading this legislation.”
“The need to protect law-abiding gun owners from government intrusion into their legal and private firearm and ammunition purchases has never been greater,” said Lawrence G. Keane, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “The Biden administration proved it was willing to ignore the law and use government pressure to coerce banks to illegally spy on Americans to create government watchlists. This legislation, introduced by Congressmen dedicated to preserving financial privacy and Second Amendment rights, would rein in federal overreach to use the private financial transactions of law-abiding citizens against them for political means. No American should be concerned that the federal government is employing this scheme, concocted by gun control cheerleaders, that weaponizes an individual’s finances and their free exercise of Second Amendment rights to wrongly identify them as a criminal-in-waiting. NSSF is grateful for this principled leadership to stand up for Constitutionally-protected rights and against special interests and big government lawmakers whose goal it is to monitor and deny lawful transactions, by law-abiding Americans.”
