Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act.

Sponsors claim this bill prevents the privacy of gun owners, but in reality, it protects mass shooters, terrorists, gun traffickers, and the profits of the firearms industry.

Financial institutions have already been using merchant codes to detect crimes like money laundering and human trafficking. They should be allowed to use that same responsible monitoring to help prevent gun violence.

I know personally why this matters. The Pulse nightclub shooter opened up six new credit cards in 8 months. He racked up more than $26,000 in credit card charges on guns and ammunition in the days before his killing spree in the middle of my district in my home of Orlando, Florida.

Our system failed to turn those warning signs into an alert for police. He murdered 49 angels in my community and wounded another 49.

Instead of helping to prevent the next tragedy, this bill makes it easier for those warning signs to be missed yet again. It strips law enforcement of an essential tool to stop violence before it happens, making every community in our Nation less safe.

For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered an important amendment to make clear that nothing in this bill should prevent law enforcement from using merchant category codes to assist in investigating and preventing acts of terrorism.

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Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the motion to recommit.

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Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to say because we hear over and over from our colleagues about the Constitution: If using merchant category codes violated the Fourth Amendment, where is your bill on amending this for every purchase at a pharmacy, liquor store, or casino?

This is a standard accounting tool that is used by banks. This argument, unless you are going to follow it up with legislation to essentially make it illegal to track and have the same codes, which is just a four-digit number, for pharmacies, casinos, liquor, and other things as well, the argument falls flat. Law enforcement needs to go through a legal process to access the financial records here.

Mr. Speaker, it is not a good argument. We are talking about something that doesn't track what you are buying. It doesn't track the guns you are buying. It won't tell them that, but it is just a general tool to help us stop some of the worst of the worst mass shootings.

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Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

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Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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