Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, hails Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte for signing legislation to protect the financial privacy of purchases with credit cards at firearm retailers. Gov. Gianforte signed the Montana 2nd Amendment Financial Privacy Act to prohibit the use of a special Merchant Category Code (MCC) for credit card purchases and prevent personal financial information from being shared by financial institutions.
“Governor Gianforte is fulfilling his duties and responsibilities to protect the Second Amendment rights of Montanans against ‘woke’ activists intent on creating a back-door gun registry through the use of this special MCC,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Americans exercising their right to legally purchase firearms and ammunition should never be threatened by private financial service providers or government authorities to having their name and financial data being added to a government-accessible watchlist simply for exercising their Second Amendment rights. Governor Gianforte is ensuring that Montanans won’t be held captive by the radical ‘woke’ antigun agenda that seeks to weaponize credit cards in gun owners’ wallets against them. Gun owners should worry about what’s in their wallet, not who’s in their wallet.”
Gov. Gianforte signed the Montana 2nd Amendment Financial Privacy Act (SB 359) that prohibits financial institutions from requiring a firearm retailer-specific code that is different from that of other sporting goods or general merchandise retailers.
In late 2022, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) announced it would create a unique MCC, at the behest of Amalgamated Bank which has been described as the Left’s Private Banker, that would allow credit card companies to monitor transactions at firearm retailers. Credit card companies suspended plans to implement the use of unique firearm retailer MCCs after significant opposition by NSSF and several state governments.
Montana joins North Dakota, Florida, West Virginia, Mississippi and Idaho in enacting laws to protect firearm purchasers’ privacy when using credit cards at firearm retailers. Legislation similar to these state laws is pending in Congress.