Merchant Category Codes, or MCCs, are codes that banks use for credit card transactions that tell them what kind of store you bought from. It doesn't tell them what you bought, only that you went to that kind of store.
However, anti-gunners have been holding it up as if these codes are the secret to stopping mass shootings. It started with an op-ed suggesting as much, and now the idea of popping a special MCC for gun stores is a thing. Or, well, it might have been. Past tense.
See, the problem is that even an MCC doesn't tell anyone what you bought, it creates a database of who shopped at gun stores. That's something that could be easily retrieved by an oppressive government and used to disarm Americans.
Plus, well, it's none of their business.
New York, however, mandated using the codes. I touched on that one a while back.
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But things are...interesting now.
Let's start with the proposal that was just made a few days ago.
Now, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced legislation to halt the use of the gun-specific MCC nationwide, thereby protecting gun owners’ privacy. U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York and Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky wrote in a November 4 op-ed posted at Newsweek.com that their legislation, the Protecting Privacy in Purchasing Act, is meant to protect America’s gun owners from unnecessary intrusion by financial institutions.
“The creation of MCCs specifically for firearms retailers is weaponizing the financial system against lawful gun owners by seeking to label and track transactions on firearms and ammunition,” they wrote in the op-ed. “Our bill aims to ensure that firearms retailers are not unjustly targeted by payment card networks or other financial entities, and purchases by law-abiding citizens are protected from monitoring and denial by the government. Specifically, our bill ensures that firearms retailers are not considered differently than general or sporting goods merchants
“This protection preserves the privacy of Americans making lawful purchases, prevents the creation of a backdoor registry of gun owners, and guarantees that legal commerce is not unfairly surveilled or impeded based on the nature of the goods sold.”
The House Members also said pressure from many directions prompted the introduction of their legislation.
Now, let's look at what happened yesterday.
Donald Trump is returning to the White House. Republicans took the majority in the Senate. In the House, as of this writing, the GOP needs just 17 more seats to maintain their majority and they're currently leading in 20 or so races.
That means the strong possibility that Republicans will control the executive and legislative branches, which means there's every chance of a bill like this passing.
While I'm usually not a fan of government interfering with the private sector, this is a case where people's rights are being threatened in the long term and something needs to be done. If Barr and Stefanik can make this happen, generations will need to thank them for making sure the government can't take a peak at where they've been shopping, preserving their ability to buy firearms with one less set of eyes looking over what they're doing.
