Will ban the use of Merchant Category Codes to track sales at gun stores.

Today, Congressman Andy Barr (R-KY), alongside Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Congressman Richard Hudson (R-NC) introduced the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act to ban the use of a Merchant Category Code to track sales at gun stores.

Barr introduced legislation that would prohibit using Merchant Category Codes to track gun-store purchases.

Barr, Stefanik, Hudson Introduce Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act to Stop Unconstitutional Tracking of Gun Sales | Press Releases | Congressman Andy Barr
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Andy Barr has served as the United States Representative for Kentucky's Sixth Congressional District since 2013. He is a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee and chairs the Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy Subcommittee, which oversees key financial regulators.

Barr held relevant federal office and financial-services oversight authority during the period when a federal ban on firearm-store merchant category codes could have been pursued. This source does not show enactment of such a ban.

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Biography | Congressman Andy Barr
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Axios reported that Visa, Mastercard, and American Express were adopting a newly approved merchant category code for gun retailers after ISO approved the code.

The policy problem described in the promise was real: payment networks moved toward a gun-retailer MCC in 2022. This was private-sector action, not a federal ban by Barr.

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Credit card companies to track gun store purchases
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AP reported that Visa and Mastercard paused categorizing gun-shop purchases after legal threats from Republican state attorneys general and pending state bills. AP also reported the code would categorize gun-store transactions, not item-level purchases.

The payment networks paused implementation, but AP attributes the pause to legal uncertainty and state-level pressure, not to a federal statutory ban enacted by Barr or Congress.

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Visa, Mastercard pause decision to track gun shop purchases
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AP reported that a Georgia bill would prohibit financial institutions from using a code to distinguish firearms retailers, and that the measure was state legislation pending in the Georgia Senate.

Some jurisdictions advanced state-level MCC bans, but this does not fulfill a federal campaign promise by a U.S. representative unless a federal ban is enacted.

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Georgia lawmakers approve tax credit for gun safety training, ban on merchant code for gun stores
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The reference summarizes California law as requiring payment card networks to create an MCC for firearms and ammunition businesses starting July 1, 2024, and requiring merchant acquirers to assign it starting May 1, 2025.

A current state requirement for firearm-store MCCs is inconsistent with the existence of a nationwide federal ban preempting use of such codes. This supports that the promise was not delivered federally as of the assessment date.

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Gun laws in California
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