Congressman Riley M. Moore’s ‘Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act’ Passes U.S. House

Washington, D.C. - Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Congressman Riley M. Moore's bill, H.R. 1181, the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act. This legislation safeguards the constitutional rights and privacy of law-abiding gun owners by prohibiting payment processors and financial institutions from using discriminatory merchant category codes (MCCs) to track firearm and ammunition purchases.

Congressman Riley M. Moore released the following statement:

"The Second Amendment is not a second-class right. Americans should never have their lawful firearm purchases tracked by financial institutions or payment processors. The creation of a separate merchant category code for gun stores at the behest of the Democrat-affiliated Amalgamated Bank opens the door to creating an unconstitutional backdoor gun registry and discrimination against law-abiding gun owners. My bill stops this dangerous overreach, protects consumers' financial privacy, and ensures that a backdoor federal gun registry can never be created through credit card transaction data. I'm proud the House has acted to defend both the Second Amendment and Americans' right to privacy."

In 2022, the International Standards Organization approved the creation of a separate merchant category code for firearm and ammunition retailers. Merchant category codes are four-digit identifiers used by payment processors to classify businesses based on the products they sell. The creation of a distinct code for gun stores raised concerns that financial institutions could use payment data to monitor, flag, and track lawful firearm purchases, creating a backdoor gun registry without congressional authorization.

As West Virginia State Treasurer, Moore successfully led the charge to ban financial institutions from implementing the firearm retailer specific merchant category code for West Virginia retailers.

H.R. 1181 passed the House with the support of 132 cosponsors, including original cosponsors, Rep. Andy Barr and Richard Hudson, and is backed by leading Second Amendment organizations, including the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, Gun Owners of America, the National Rifle Association, and Heritage Action.

The Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act:

• Prohibits payment card networks from requiring firearm retailers to use a distinct merchant category code that separates them from general merchandise or sporting goods stores.
• Bars financial institutions from assigning separate merchant category codes to firearm retailers.
• Establishes federal enforcement mechanisms authorizing the Attorney General to investigate violations, issue compliance orders, and seek injunctions against entities that attempt to track firearm purchases through discriminatory coding practices.
• Preempts state and local laws that conflict with the legislation.
• Requires the Attorney General to submit reports to Congress detailing investigations, enforcement actions, and the effectiveness of the law.

Congressman Moore introduced the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act to prevent financial institutions from weaponizing consumers' financial data against law-abiding Americans exercising their constitutional rights.

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