S1715

On May 12, 2025, Senator Hagerty (R-TN) introduced S.1715, the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act. The bill has been read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. It has 24 cosponsors, all Republican. The bill is in its earliest legislative stage — referred to committee with no hearings, markups, or floor votes scheduled. The bill's mechanism is straightforward: it prohibits payment card networks (Visa, Mastercard) and covered entities (acquirers/processors) from requiring firearms retailers to use a merchant category code that distinguishes them from general merchandise or sporting goods retailers. The bill authorizes zero appropriated funding — it is a regulatory prohibition, not a spending program. There is no money trail. The real market data shows no price reaction tied to this legislation. Visa ($V) and Mastercard ($MA) have traded near recent levels, and the bill's structural impact on either company's revenue is zero. Neither company currently operates a revenue stream contingent on firearms-specific MCCs. The bill forecloses a hypothetical future revenue line (e.g., premium interchange fees for firearms merchants) but removes nothing existing. The absence of any funding or enforcement budget further reinforces the minimal market consequence. The legislative path is long: committee consideration, potential Senate floor vote, House introduction of a companion bill, conference committee, and presidential action. With the 119th Congress (2025–2027) still early, this bill is unlikely to advance significantly in its current form without broader bipartisan support or inclusion in a larger banking package.