{"id":102954,"date":"2024-07-12T20:04:04","date_gmt":"2024-07-13T01:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=102954"},"modified":"2024-07-12T20:46:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-13T01:46:52","slug":"102954","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=102954","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Financial Surveillance: Why We Have To Prevent Liberal Organizations From Subverting The Second Amendment<\/a><\/p>\n

There is no such thing as a free nation where the police and military are allowed to keep and bear arms and citizens are not. Our Founding Fathers understood this and enshrined the basic right to self-defense in the U.S. Constitution. The Second Amendment guarantees the absolute ability to live in peace without fear.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. Supreme Court has, time and again, reaffirmed that right. Yet elected Democrats and other stakeholders continue their all-out assault on this freedom with the ultimate goal of denying law-abiding Americans the opportunity to purchase and carry guns.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, in 2022, I became concerned when Visa and Mastercard <\/span><\/span>announced<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0they would separately categorize and track<\/span><\/span>\u00a0purchases for guns and ammunition. This move followed the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), an international standards organization based out of Europe, approving an application for a firearm-specific Merchant Category Code (MCC). This move would set a dangerous precedent targeting legal gun owners, the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>vast majority<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0of whom are Republicans or independents who lean Right.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A specific MCC for gun purchases would subject Americans attempting to exercise their constitutional rights to unnecessary and unethical surveillance. If rolled out, a national gun registry would be closer than ever, even though it is\u00a0<\/span><\/span>prohibited<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0by federal law. The Left, however, does not care about the rule of law and they certainly aren\u2019t hiding their desire to take away your freedoms. An elected Democrat recently\u00a0<\/span><\/span>called<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0a federal gun registry a \u201cwonderful idea.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A gun-specific MCC is a clear threat to the privacy and Second Amendment rights of all Americans. Not only does it present an easy opportunity for liberal institutions to de-bank firearms sellers, which is abruptly closing financial accounts for religious and political reasons, but it could also discourage Americans from exercising their Constitutionally-protected rights. Importantly, the MCC would do absolutely nothing to improve public safety.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span><\/span>application<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0for a gun- and ammo-specific MCC came from Amalgamated Bank in 2022, a\u00a0<\/span><\/span>blatantly Left-wing<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0company that dubs itself America\u2019s \u201csocially responsible bank\u201d and proudly says deposited money supports \u201csustainable organizations, progressive causes, and social justice.\u201d Upon further examination, it\u2019s clear the organization is closely connected to the Democrat Party. The New York Times in 2015 even\u00a0<\/span><\/span>called<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0it \u201cthe left\u2019s private banker.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Clients of the union-owned bank\u00a0<\/span><\/span>include<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0President Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Nancy Pelosi. Additional past and present clients\u00a0<\/span><\/span>include<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0the Democratic Governors Association, the Biden Foundation, the Democratic National Committee, and Ready for Hillary 2016. Not exactly ardent defenders of the Second Amendment.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Amalgamated has also explicitly\u00a0<\/span><\/span>called for<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0unconstitutional red-flag laws and says it discriminates against gun, nuclear weapon and ammunition manufacturers and distributors. Radical private organizations like this and the ISO should be nowhere near our Second Amendment.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the time of the approval, Amalgamated Chief Executive Priscilla Sims Brown\u00a0<\/span><\/span>said<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0the move \u201canswers the call of millions of Americans who want safety from gun violence.\u201d Does this call supersede the constitutional right to keep and bear arms? As a state representative serving the people of Northwest Tennessee, I can tell you my constituents would say that coastal elites and liberal corporations better stay far away from their guns and finances.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I set out to ensure this gun tracking scheme would never happen in the Volunteer State. This year, I sponsored the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act, which was passed by the General Assembly and went into effect July 1. This new law will prohibit financial institutions from requiring retailers to use a specific MCC for firearms sellers in Tennessee.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Law-abiding Americans deserve to make these purchases without fear of liberal corporations and an overbearing federal government coordinating to spy on them. I was proud to provide that peace of mind to Tennesseans with the passage of this new law.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Just before the new law took effect, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti warned that Visa, Mastercard and American Express were potentially gearing up to ignore it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSpecifically, I am concerned that your compliance efforts are not sufficient and will allow you and other financial institutions to continue to utilize impermissible codes in violation of Tennessee law,\u201d he\u00a0<\/span><\/span>said<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0in a June letter to the chief executives of each company.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

No credit card company should be able to cancel the votes of millions of Tennesseans by disobeying our policies.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve already seen the Orwellian-like behavior from the Biden Administration and the private companies all too willing to hand over sensitive information. Earlier this year, the House Judiciary Committee\u00a0<\/span><\/span>revealed<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0federal investigators had asked financial institutions to search customer transactions for various MCCs, stores and phrases, including Cabela\u2019s, Bass Pro Shops, Dicks Sporting Goods, and MAGA.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The goal? Rooting out alleged \u201cextremism\u201d following the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If the federal government and private companies are already using banking information to target conservatives, ask yourself why they might want a separate MCC for firearms and ammunition sellers. It\u2019s clear that in attempting to force these codes on Americans, they are also attempting to reshape what the Second Amendment means in our country.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Americans are tired of these people and groups pushing an agenda contrary to our founding ideals. I\u2019m proud Tennessee has taken a stand against the ever-increasing leftist corporate-government alliance meant to intimidate and silence Christians and conservatives. It\u2019s time every state stands with us.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Russell ‘Rusty’ Grills represents District 77 in the Tennessee House of Representatives<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Financial Surveillance: Why We Have To Prevent Liberal Organizations From Subverting The Second Amendment There is no such thing as a free nation where the police and military are allowed to keep and bear arms and citizens are not. Our Founding Fathers understood this and enshrined the basic right to self-defense in the U.S. Constitution. … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,15,14,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bureaucraps","category-business","category-editorial-o-the-day","category-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102955,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102954\/revisions\/102955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}