I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1181 
To prohibit payment card networks and covered entities from requiring the 
use of or assigning merchant category codes that distinguish a firearms 
retailer from general-merchandise retailer or sporting-goods retailer, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 11, 2025 
Mr. MOORE of West Virginia (for himself, Mr. BARR, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. BEAN 
of Florida, Mr. CLINE, Mr. PERRY, Ms. VAN DUYNE, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. 
COLLINS, Mr. FINSTAD, Mr. MOORE of Alabama, Mr. WEBSTER of Flor-
ida, Mr. GUEST, Mr. RULLI, Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas, Mr. HIGGINS of 
Louisiana, Mr. BOST, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. SCHMIDT, Mr. MOORE of North 
Carolina, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. COMER, Mr. WOMACK, Mr. ROSE, Mr. 
YAKYM, Mr. GILL of Texas, and Mr. RUTHERFORD) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
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 general- 
merchandise retailer or sporting-goods retailer, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Privacy in 
Purchases Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DISTINGUISHING FIREARMS SALES. 
(a) PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO MERCHANT CAT-
EGORY CODES.— 
(1) PAYMENT
CARD
NETWORKS.—A payment 
card network may not require a firearms retailer to 
use, nor require a covered entity to assign, a mer-
chant category code that distinguishes such firearms 
retailer from a general-merchandise retailer or a 
sporting-goods retailer. 
(2) COVERED ENTITIES.—A covered entity or 
its agent may not assign to a firearms retailer any 
merchant category code that distinguishes from a 
general-merchandise retailer or a sporting-goods re-
tailer. 
(b) ENFORCEMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 
enforce this section and shall, not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this section, es-
tablish a process for individuals, including firearms 
retailers, to submit complaints relating to alleged 
violations of this section. 
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(2) INVESTIGATION.—The Attorney General 
shall investigate each complaint received through the 
processes established under paragraph (1). 
(3) WRITTEN NOTICE.—If the Attorney General 
determines after conducting an investigation that a 
payment card network or covered entity has violated 
this section, the Attorney General shall send a writ-
ten notice of such violation to such payment card 
network or covered entity that requires the payment 
card network or covered entity to remedy the viola-
tion not later than 30 days after the date on which 
the payment card network or covered entity receives 
such notice. 
(4) INJUNCTION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—If a payment card net-
work or covered entity does not remedy a viola-
tion within 30 days of receiving a written notice 
under paragraph (3), the Attorney General may 
bring an action in Federal court to enjoin the 
violating behavior. 
(B) NO PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—This 
Act does not create a private right of action. 
(c) PREEMPTION.—Any law of a State or local gov-
ernment regulating merchant category codes for firearm 
retailers is hereby preempted. 
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(d) REPORT.—The Attorney General shall, each year, 
submit a report to the Congress that— 
(1) identifies the number of investigations un-
dertaken by the Attorney General under this section; 
(2) includes a summary of such cases and their 
disposition; and 
(3) provides any available data and analysis re-
garding the effectiveness of this Act. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 
(1) AMMUNITION.—The term ‘‘ammunition’’ 
has the meaning given the term in section 
921(a)(17)(A) of title 18, United States Code. 
(2) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en-
tity’’ means any entity that— 
(A) establishes a relationship with a mer-
chant for the purposes of processing credit, 
debit, or prepaid transactions; or 
(B) establishes a relationship with an enti-
ty that establishes a relationship with a mer-
chant for the purposes of processing credit, 
debit, or prepaid transactions. 
(3) FIREARM.—The term ‘‘firearm’’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 921(a)(3), (5), 
(7), (16), (29), (30), of title 18, United States Code. 
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(4) FIREARMS RETAILER.—The term ‘‘firearms 
retailer’’ means a person or entity engaged in the 
lawful business of selling or trading firearms or am-
munition to be used in firearms. 
(5) MERCHANT
CATEGORY
CODE.—The term 
‘‘merchant category code’’ means a multi-digit code, 
issued by the International Organization for Stand-
ardization, for the purposes of enabling the classi-
fication of merchants into specific categories based 
on the type of business, trade or services supplied. 
(6) PAYMENT
CARD
NETWORK.—The term 
‘‘payment card network’’ means an entity that di-
rectly or through a licensed member, processor, or 
agent provides proprietary services, infrastructure, 
or software, or hardware that route information 
used to authorize, clear and settle credit card and 
debit card transactions. 
Æ 
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