[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1715 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1715
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
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
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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.
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