Breaking Digest reported previously that major credit card companies will begin assigning special merchant category codes to firearm purchases in the US that would allow gun purchases to be tracked and those deemed “suspicious” can then be reported to law enforcement.
Tennessee Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti, and Montana Attorney General, Austin Knudsen, are leading a coalition of 24 states warning the CEOs of three major credit card companies that the recent creation of a Merchant Category Code for gun stores for use when processing credit and debit card transactions potentially infringes upon consumers’ privacy and could violate antitrust laws.
In the letter to the CEOs of American Express, Mastercard, and Visa, the attorneys general warned that generating a “list of gun buyers” creates the obvious risk that law-abiding consumers’ information will be leaked, discovered, hacked, or otherwise obtained and misused by those who oppose Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights.
From the letter:
The new code will not protect public safety. Categorizing the constitutionally protected right
to purchase firearms unfairly singles out law-abiding merchants and consumers alike. First,
efforts to track and monitor sales at gun stores would only result in vague and misleading
information. This categorization would not recognize the difference, for example, between the
purchase of a gun safe and a firearm. Nor would it capture firearm purchases made at
department stores, resulting in arbitrarily disparate treatment of “gun store” merchants and
consumers.
More importantly, purposefully tracking this information can only result in its misuse, either
unintentional or deliberate. Creating and tracking this data only matters if your institutions
are considering using that information to take further, harmful action—like infringing upon
consumer privacy, inhibiting constitutionally protected purchases by selectively restricting
the use of your payment systems, or otherwise withholding your financial services from
targeted “disfavored” merchants.And generating a “list of gun buyers” creates the obvious risk that law-abiding consumers’
information will be leaked, discovered, hacked, or otherwise obtained and misused by those
who oppose Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights.Some supporters of this move have analogized it to the Suspicious Activity Reports required
of financial institutions. That analogy fails; SARs are specifically required by law and came
about through a considered balancing of public safety and personal privacy. The new code for
gun stores is the result of transnational collusion between large corporations leveraging their
market power to further their owners’ desired social outcomes. Activists pressured the ISO
to adopt this policy as a means of circumventing and undermining the American legislative
process. The new Merchant Category Code will chill the exercise of a constitutional right
without any concomitant benefit.Press releases from public officials make clear that the new merchant code was created and
adopted in concert with various state actors, which may additionally create the potential for
both civil and criminal liability for conspiracy to deprive Americans of their civil rights.
Social policy should be debated and determined within our political institutions. Americans
are tired of seeing corporate leverage used to advance political goals that cannot muster basic
democratic support. The Second Amendment is a fundamental right, but it’s also a
fundamental American value. Our financial institutions should stop lending their market
power to those who wish to attack that value.Be advised that we will marshal the full scope of our lawful authority to protect our citizens
and consumers from unlawful attempts to undermine their constitutional rights. Please keep
that in mind as you consider whether to proceed with adopting and implementing this
Merchant Category Code.
Click here to read the full letter.
The Attorneys General for the following states joined Tennessee and Montana:
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming, West Virginia.
