Tennessee: Gun Owner Financial Privacy Legislation Headed to Governor Lee

Last week, on April 1, the House passed House Bill 2762 by a 75-17 vote, providing critical financial privacy protections for gun owners. The companion bill, SB 2223, passed the Senate a few weeks ago. HB 2762/SB 2223 will soon be presented to Governor Bill Lee for his signature.

HB 2762/SB 2223 prohibits payment processors from using firearm/ammunition-specific merchant category codes. This is an important protection for gun owners, protecting private purchasing information from abuse by third parties. Anti-gun activists in states like California have already mandated the use of these codes, and it is important that Tennessee takes this critical step to protect financial privacy.

In Fall 2022, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved a Merchant Category Code (MCC) for firearm retailers. MCCs are used by payment processors (like Visa and Mastercard) and other financial services companies to categorize transactions. MCCs enable payment processors and banks to identify, monitor, and collect data on certain types of transactions. Before the ISO decision, firearm retailers fell under the MCC for sporting goods stores or miscellaneous retail.

Collecting firearm retailer financial transaction data amounts to surveillance and registration of law-abiding gun owners. Those promoting these schemes, in turn, support this type of intrusion, and it should be presumed that the goal of this program is to share all collected firearm retailer MCC data with government authorities and potentially private third parties that may include gun control organizations and anti-gun researchers.

NRA would like to thank House Speaker Cameron Sexton, Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-SD 27), who sponsored the Senate bill, Representative Rusty Grills (R-HD 77), who sponsored the House bill, and all our members and fellow Second Amendment advocates who engaged to keep the bills moving through the legislative process in both chambers.

Continue to check your inbox and www.nraila.org for updates on your Second Amendment Rights and hunting heritage in Tennessee.