•     "I strongly oppose this and any other bill that could limit efforts to combat gun violence. Let's start with a few sobering stats. Americans are 26 times more likely to be shot and killed than if you lived in any other high income country. On average, 327 people are shot in the United States daily. This includes 23 minors who are shot daily. On average, 117 people die every day in the United States because of gun violence. Over the weekend, we had yet another school shooting when two students were shot and killed at Brown University. Nine others were shot and injured. Now, a few states, including my home state of California, have taken action to require payment card networks to use a merchant catalog code or MCC to distinguish firearm retailers from other types of retailers. This information could be used to help law enforcement, track suspicious purchases, and prevent even more gun violence. Source: Rep. Maxine Waters (Democrat, California, District 43)

•     "We just had two mass shootings this weekend. This bill would block credit card companies from using just a specific merchant category code for gun retailers. This is a tool that's used in nearly every type of business. If you buy a razor, if you buy a wig, if you buy an alarm clock, there's a merchant category code. Who the hell is out there saying that's an infringement on privacy? How are you to know that I need a wig? That would be insanely stupid and we don't do it. In 2022, there was an MCC for gun stores approved by the International Organization for Standardization. New York Times investigation found that between 2007 and 2018, eight of 13 mass shootings were financed with credit card purchases. Many of them were made just weeks before shootings. How many people would be alive today if we had the tools to monitor that? How many will die if we don't? … Is it more important for Americans to get shot than to protect states rights? Do we want the government to intervene in the private sector and protect businesses who think that they have a moral obligation to look out for the least of these free market capitalism, small government? I thought those things were things that my colleagues across the aisle cared about. And I just want to stress, please don't offend us by saying this is about the Second Amendment. Come on. The Second Amendment does not mention merchant category codes. The Second Amendment does not say the right to protect people from getting murdered unless they are murdered with a knife, a bat, poison, an oven, a seal off the back of your exhaust, or anything else that is not a gun shall not be infringed. This is about whether we as Americans are going to allow people to track things. Source: Rep. Sean Casten (Democrat, Illinois, District 6)