CHARLESTON – After MasterCard and Visa announced they’re pausing plans of applying a new merchant code to distinguish firearms purchases at gun shops, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey was declaring victory.
State Treasurer Riley Moore, who introduced a bill in the House of Delegates that stop financial institutions from using such codes, also praised the news. Several other states also are considering similar laws.
“This is a huge victory for the Second Amendment and privacy rights of law abiding gun owners here in West Virginia and across the country,” Morrisey said March 9 after the companies announced their plans. “I am glad that MasterCard and Visa listened to our serious concerns with the new merchant code and will act accordingly.
Moore
“I want to thank my fellow attorneys general who worked with me on this effort.”
In September, Morrisey sent letters to Visa, MasterCard and American Express urging the companies to reconsider a decision to apply the new merchant code to distinguish firearms purchases from other general merchandise sales. A few days later, Morrisey joined a coalition of 24 state AGs demanding the companies abandon their gun sales new merchant code plans.
Morrisey, who said he had a personal conversation with MasterCard officials, said the plan “has nothing to do with public safety and was done to appease radical gun control groups and others who are anti-Second Amendment after years of pressure.”
“Tracking legal gun sales from law-abiding merchants and consumers is nothing but an infringement on our constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” Morrisey said.
Moore said the companies’ response is “a direct result” of the bill headed to passage in the West Virginia Legislature.
Moore worked with lawmakers to introduce House Bill 2004, which is known as The Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act. On March 9, the bill unanimously passed the state Senate. It will go back to the House for concurrence on some minor changes to the language. Once signed by Gov. Jim Justice, West Virginia will be the first state with this kind of law.
A Bloomberg story quoted a MasterCard spokesperson who said the bills like HB2004 were the reason the companies paused their implementation of the new code.
“This is a clear victory for consumers and Americans’ civil liberties,” Moore said. “The implementation of this new merchant category code would have created a backdoor national gun registry that could be used by the radical gun control lobby to undermine Americans’ Second Amendment rights.
“West Virginia once again led the way to push back against another woke attempt to undermine our values and way of life. Visa and MasterCard’s decision comes as our state prepares to complete passage of landmark legislation to ban this kind of financial-tracking scheme. Our action – and their response – once again demonstrates that when states use our collective voice in the marketplace, we can turn the tide against the woke elites trying to jam their extremist agendas down our throats.”