May 12, 2025
Mr. Hagerty (for himself, Mr. Justice, Mr. Graham, Mr. Risch, Ms. Lummis, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. Budd, Mr. Daines, Mr. Lee, Mr. Ricketts, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Mullin, Mrs. Fischer, and Mr. Barrasso) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
To prohibit payment card networks and covered entities from requiring the use of or assigning merchant category codes that distinguish a firearms retailer from a general merchandise retailer or sporting goods retailer, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act
.
Sec. 2. Distinguishing firearms sales
(a) Definitions
In this section:
(1) Ammunition
The term ammunition has the meaning given the term in section 921(a)(17)(A) of title 18, United States Code, as applied to a firearm, as defined in paragraph (3).
(2) Covered entity
The term covered entity means any entity that establishes a relationship with—
(A)
a merchant for the purposes of processing credit, debit, or prepaid transactions; or
(B)
another entity that establishes a relationship with a merchant for the purposes of processing credit, debit, or prepaid transactions.
(3) Firearm
The term firearm means an item described in paragraph (3), (5), (7), (16), (29), or (30) of section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code.
(4) Firearms retailer
The term firearms retailer means a person or entity engaged in the lawful business of selling or trading—
(A)
firearms; or
(B)
ammunition to be used in firearms.
(5) Merchant category code
The term merchant category code means a multi-digit code that is issued by the International Organization for Standardization for the purposes of enabling the classification of merchants into specific categories based on the type of business or trade of the merchant or the services supplied by the merchant.
(6) Payment card network
The term payment card network means an entity that, directly or through a licensed member, processor, or agent, provides a proprietary service, infrastructure, software, or hardware that routes information used to authorize, clear, and settle credit card and debit card transactions.
(b) Prohibitions relating to merchant category codes
(1) Payment card networks
A payment card network may not require a firearms retailer to use, nor require a covered entity to assign to a firearms retailer, a merchant category code that distinguishes the firearms retailer from a general merchandise retailer or a sporting goods retailer.
(2) Covered entities
Neither a covered entity, nor any agent of a covered entity, may assign to a firearms retailer any merchant category code that distinguishes the firearms retailer from a general merchandise retailer or a sporting goods retailer.
(c) Enforcement
(1) In general
The Attorney General shall—
(A)
enforce this section, including by conducting investigations of potential violations of this section; and
(B)
not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, establish a process for a person, including a firearms retailer, to submit to the Attorney General a complaint relating to an alleged violation of this section.
(2) Investigation
The Attorney General shall investigate each complaint received through the processes established under paragraph (1)(B).
(3) Written notice
If the Attorney General determines after conducting an investigation (whether initiated by the Attorney General or through a complaint received through the process established under paragraph (1)(B)) that a payment card network or a covered entity has violated this section, the Attorney General shall send to that payment card network or covered entity, as applicable, written notice of that violation that requires the payment card network or covered entity to remedy the violation not later than 30 days after the date on which the payment card network or covered entity receives that notice.
(4) Injunction
If a payment card network or covered entity does not remedy a violation of this section within 30 days of receiving written notice under paragraph (3), the Attorney General may bring an action in an appropriate district court of the United States to enjoin the violating behavior.
(d) Preemption
Any law of a State or local government regulating merchant category codes for firearm retailers is hereby preempted by this section.
(e) No private right of action
Nothing in this section may be construed as establishing a private right of action.
(f) Report
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report that—
(1)
for the year covered by the report, identifies the total number of investigations undertaken by the Attorney General under this section, whether initiated by the Attorney General or through a complaint received through the process established under subsection (c)(1)(B);
(2)
includes a summary of each investigation described in paragraph (1), including the disposition of each such investigation; and
(3)
provides any available data and analysis regarding the effectiveness of this Act.