May 15th 2023Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Florida SB 214. This law prohibits credit card companies from implementing a Merchant Category Code (MCC), which is used for credit card purchases made at firearm retailers. This new Florida law ensures that the privacy of firearm retailers’ customers is protected and that their information will not be used to create an illegal backdoor gun registry. “Governor DeSantis stands up against a woke initiative… that uses lawful private transactions to usher in firearm control,” said Lawrence G. Keane Senior Vice President and general counsel of the NSSF. “No law-abiding American should be subjected to having their name and financial data being added to a government-accessible watchlist simply for exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Governor DeSantis ensures that Floridians will not be held hostage by the radical antigun agenda which seeks to weaponize the credit cards in gun owner’s wallets against them. “Florida SB 214 ensures that the names and addresses of law-abiding gun owners are not illegally entered on a registry or list. The law prohibits any entity that settles payments, merchants acquiring entities or third-party settlement organizations from classifying a retailer as a seller or firearms and ammunition. SB 214 also authorizes the Florida Dept. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is authorized to investigate alleged violations. Credit card companies have suspended plans to use unique firearm retailer MCCs following significant opposition from NSSF and many state governments. Idaho, Mississippi, and West Virginia have passed similar legislationFlorida has joined West Virginia, Mississippi, and Idaho in passing laws to protect gun purchasers’ privacy by using credit cards when purchasing firearms at firearm retailers. Congress is considering legislation similar to Florida’s.
The Attorneys General (AGs), of 24 states, have sent letters to the CEOs of Credit Card companies requesting that the new Merchant Category Code for gun stores, which is being implemented by Visa Mastercard and American Express, be eliminated. The AGs of these 24 states said they would “marshal our lawful authority” in order to block the use the new Code for gun and gun-related purchases. They sent a letter to the CEOs at American Express, Mastercard and Visa last week. The AGs explained how the Code could be abused and lead to a “de facto” gun registry. They said: “Creating and tracking these data only matters if you are considering using this information to take further harmful actions–like infringing on consumer privacy, inhibiting constitutionally-protected purchases by selectively limiting the use of your payments systems, or withholding your financial service from targeted ‘disfavored merchants’.” The AGs explained that the Code could not distinguish between firearms sales and hunting/outdoor accessory sales, causing problems for consumers. “This categorization, for example, would not recognize the differences between the purchase of gun safes and a firearm.” It would not include firearm purchases made in department stores either, leading to a disparate treatment between ‘gun store merchants’ and consumers.
Tags: DeSantis Firearms Retailer Merchant Code Florida, MCC Tracking Codes, NSSF SB 214 Florida, MCC Tracking Codes
