By Wendy Kinney | Exclusive for SaraACarter.com
New York just fired the next shot in a war most Americans don’t even know they’re in. A new law—Senate Bill S8479, signed by Governor Kathy Hochul—forces credit card companies to track gun and ammunition purchases using a special Merchant Category Code (MCC). The stated goal? To “flag suspicious activity.” But that’s not what it does. MCCs don’t show what was bought—only where. And this isn’t just about guns—it’s about freedom.
Starting next month—May 1, 2025—every firearm and ammunition dealer in New York will be assigned an MCC. That code, created by the International Organization for Standardization, allows financial institutions to tag and monitor transactions based on where they occur, not what was actually purchased. A safe, a backpack, or a Bible on the counter? Same code. This isn’t gun control. It’s surveillance through the back door.
We’ve seen this tactic before. Under Project Choke Point, the Obama DOJ quietly pressured banks to cut off services to politically disfavored industries—gun retailers, payday lenders, even faith-based nonprofits. No law. No vote. Just coercion.
Now New York is resurrecting that strategy, this time baked into law and wrapped in public safety packaging. And they’re not alone.
California and Colorado are close behind. California’s law also requires MCC use by May 2025—next month. Colorado’s law, signed by Governor Jared Polis on May 1, 2024, requires payment networks to make the code available by September 1, 2024, and mandates that merchants begin using it by May 1, 2025.
This isn’t isolated. It’s coordinated—and it’s escalating. Meanwhile, 16 states, including Texas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota, West Virginia, Iowa, Montana, and Wyoming, have moved to ban the use of this code altogether—creating a direct legal clash. The same payment networks being forced to monitor in one state are prohibited from doing so in another. Welcome to the new battleground for American freedom.
As someone who builds and operates these systems, let me be clear: MCCs don’t reveal what was purchased—only where. It’s a blunt instrument built to profile. No nuance, no context, just flags and filters. And when that power is unchecked, it’s dangerous.
The law never defines “suspicious activity.” There are no guardrails—just vague language and broad discretion. That’s not public safety. That’s programmable ideology. And once banks become enforcers, we’re no longer free citizens. We’re data points.
And the data tells a different story. According to the Department of Justice, only 10.1% of prisoners who used a gun during their offense obtained it from a retail source. 43.2% got theirs off the street, 25.3% from family or friends, and 6.4% stole it. These are the government’s own numbers. Criminals don’t want a trail—they don’t shop with a card.
No one running guns for a gang is swiping their Amex at a local sporting goods store. This isn’t crime prevention. It’s surveillance of lawful citizens.
Even the law’s sponsors admit what this is really about. New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie said: “We must use every tool at our disposal to fight the gun violence epidemic.” But this isn’t a tool—it’s a test run. A test to see how far they can go. Because once financial surveillance is normalized for gun owners, it won’t stop there. It will follow your ideas, your donations, your values. Track the transaction, control the person.
Governor Hochul says this law will help identify people “stockpiling ammunition”—as if that’s a crime. But responsible gun owners buy in bulk. They train. They prepare. That’s not suspicious. That’s responsible. Labeling it a red flag isn’t about safety. It’s about control.
This was never about stopping criminals. It’s about watching the rest of us.
The danger isn’t theoretical. It’s already here. Americans exercising their constitutional rights are being treated like suspects. A credit card swipe is now enough to trigger scrutiny. That sets a chilling precedent—not just for the Second Amendment, but for every liberty we hold dear.
If this system can be used to track gun owners, what’s next? Tithes to your church? Donations to conservative causes? A book from a faith-based bookstore? When the government can trace your values through your transactions, freedom becomes conditional.
And it can all be done without passing a single new law—just by flipping a switch.
As CEO of a payment technology company, I’ve seen this firsthand. Our systems were built for speed, security, and service. But now they’ve become soft targets for censorship. One quiet change in code, and a business is gone. A church is cut off. A voice goes silent. When enforcement becomes ideological, freedom dies quietly.
New York’s MCC law isn’t about public safety. It’s about coding citizens—flagging, isolating, and punishing behavior the state doesn’t like. This is how liberty dies in the digital age—not with a bang, but with a banker’s keystroke.
They don’t need to ban your rights if they can block your access to them.
That’s the new strategy. And we need to meet it head-on—with lawsuits, legislation, and unshakable courage. Because if freedom can be coded, flagged, and frozen—it’s not freedom at all.
About the Author
Wendy Kinney is a devout Christian, legal strategist, attorney, and entrepreneur committed to free speech, financial freedom, and the Constitution. As Founder & CEO of Revere Payments, she protects businesses from financial censorship, ensuring American enterprises remain free.
