WASHINGTON, March 28,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- NSSF®, The Firearm
Industry Trade Association, celebrates Kentucky House Bill 357,
informally called the Second Amendment Privacy Act, passing into
law. This NSSF-supported law protects the privacy and sensitive
financial information of people purchasing firearms and ammunition
in Kentucky. The law was passed
with an overwhelming majority by the Commonwealth's General
Assembly.
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 designate 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
protected financial information. Additionally, the law prohibits
keeping or causing to be kept any list, record or registry of
private firearm ownership. The law was sponsored by Kentucky state Reps. Derek Lewis and Michael
Meredith, as well as state Sen. Jason Howell.
"Kentucky's lawmakers are showing
their citizens what leadership-in-action looks like by protecting
their privacy and preventing 'woke' Wall Street from colluding with
government to target them for exercising their Second Amendment
rights," said Lawrence G. Keane,
NSSF Senior Vice President & General Counsel. "NSSF is deeply
grateful to Representatives Lewis and Meredith and Senator Howell
for sponsoring this legislation and ushering it through to become
law. 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 Kentucky
legislators to protect private and legal firearm and ammunition
purchases from political exploitation. The Second Amendment 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, 2021. Treasury's
FinCEN had no 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.
Sorkin admitted that creating a
firearm-retailer specific MCC would be a first step to creating a
national firearm registry, which is forbidden by federal law.
Kentucky joins a growing list of
states that are standing against the invasion of financial privacy
when exercising Second Amendment rights, including 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. Rep. Elise Stefanik introduced H.R. 7450,
the NSSF-supported Protecting Privacy in Purchases
Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. California's Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a
law requiring the use of a firearm-retailer specific MCC
and Colorado is considering similar legislation.
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 over 10,0000 members
including manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting
ranges, sportsmen's organizations and publishers nationwide. For
more information, visit nssf.org.
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SOURCE NATIONAL SHOOTING SPORTS FOUNDATION