WASHINGTON, May 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- NSSF®, The Firearm
Industry Trade Association, applauds Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey for signing SB 281, the Second
Amendment Financial Privacy Act, into law last week. This
NSSF-supported law protects the privacy and sensitive financial
information of people purchasing firearms and ammunition in The
Yellowhammer State. With Alabama, there
are now 15 states with laws that protect the Second Amendment
financial privacy of their citizens.
The law prohibits financial institutions from requiring the use
of a firearm code, also known as a Merchant Category Code (MCC),
from being assigned to firearm and ammunition purchases at retail
when using a credit card. The law also forbids discriminating
against a firearm retailer as a result of the assigned or
non-assignment of a firearm code and disclosing the protected
financial information. Additionally, the law prohibits keeping or
causing to be kept any list, record or registry of private firearm
ownership.
"Governor Kay Ivey's signing of
the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act is a necessary tool to
protect the Second Amendment and privacy rights of the citizens of
Alabama from unlawful intrusion on
their private purchases when purchasing firearms and ammunition
with a payment card," said Lawrence G.
Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President & General Counsel.
"Alabamians won't need to worry that 'woke' Wall Street banks,
credit card companies and payment processors will collude with
government entities to spy on their private finances for exercising
their rights. No American should fear being placed on a government
watchlist simply for exercising their Constitutionally-protected
rights to keep and bear arms."
NSSF worked closely with Alabama
legislators to protect private and legal firearm and ammunition
purchases from political exploitation. The Second Amendment
Financial Privacy Act is designed to protect the privacy of lawful
and private firearm and ammunition purchases from being abused for
political purposes by corporate financial service providers and
unlawful government search and seizure of legal and private
financial transactions.
The U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
(FinCEN) admitted to U.S. Sen. Tim
Scott (R-S.C.) in a letter that it violated the Fourth
Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens that protect against
illegal search and seizure when it collected the credit card
purchase history from banks and credit card companies of
individuals who purchased firearms and ammunition in the days
surrounding Jan. 6, 2020. Treasury's
FinCEN had no probable cause, and sought the information without a
warrant, to place these law-abiding citizens on a government
watchlist only because they exercised their Second Amendment rights
to lawfully purchase firearms and ammunition.
The idea of a firearm-retailer specific MCC was borne from
antigun New York Times' columnist
Andrew Ross Sorkin and
Amalgamated Bank, which has been called "The Left's Private
Banker" and bankrolls the Democratic National Committee and
several antigun politicians. Amalgamated Bank lobbied the
Swiss-based International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
for the code's creation. NSSF has called on Congress to investigate
Amalgamated Bank's role in manipulating the ISO standard setting
process for political purposes.
Sorkin admitted creating a firearm-retailer specific MCC
would be a first step to creating a national firearm registry,
which is forbidden by federal law.
Alabama joins a growing list of
states that are standing against the invasion of financial privacy
when exercising Second Amendment rights, including Georgia, Tennessee,
Iowa, Kentucky, Wyoming,
Indiana, Utah, Florida,
Idaho, Mississippi, Montana,
North Dakota, Texas and West
Virginia. These states passed laws protecting citizens'
Second Amendment privacy. Other states are considering similar
legislation. U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty
(R-Tenn.) introduced S. 4075, the NSSF-supported
Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act in the Senate. U.S. Rep.
Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) introduced
H.R. 7450, with the same title in the U.S. House of
Representatives. Only two states – California and Colorado – have laws requiring payment card
processors to report purchases by a firearm retailer-specific
MCC.
About NSSF
NSSF is the trade association for the
firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve
hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a
membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm
retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen's organizations and
publishers nationwide. For more information, visit
nssf.org.
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SOURCE NATIONAL SHOOTING SPORTS FOUNDATION