Dear Texas Senate District 5 NRA Member:
The Texas Legislature adjourned last week from its 2023 Regular Session after having passed a number of pro-Second Amendment bills, including House Bill 2837, sponsored by your State Senator, Charles Schwertner.
HB 2837 prohibits financial institutions and credit card companies from requiring licensed gun dealers to use a firearms-specific merchant category code (MCC) to categorize retail gun purchases, rather than using a general merchandise retailer code or a sporting goods retailer code. It protects the privacy rights of lawful purchasers of firearms or ammunition by preventing payment card processing systems from collecting and misusing this data to surveil, report or disclose these legal transactions.
Gun control advocates successfully pressured activist banks on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to create a unique MCC for licensed gun dealers. Now, they are pushing federal lawmakers to require banks and credit card companies to use these MCCs to gather data on, and track, lawful firearms purchases. Since the federal government is prohibited by law from creating and maintaining a registry of gun owners, they are attempting to outsource this effort to the private financial sector. Thanks to the efforts of Sen. Schwertner and other pro-Second Amendment state lawmakers, this will not happen in Texas!
HB 2837 has been sent to Governor Abbott for his expected signature. Please send a quick note of thanks to Sen. Charles Schwertner for sponsoring and passing HB 2837 this session!
Sincerely,
NRA Institute for Legislative Action