The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) has strongly criticized New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s signing of legislation that requires new merchant codes for firearm and ammunition purchases with credit cards, calling it an invasion of privacy.
Governor Hochul signed S745/A439 into law, with her office and supporters arguing that it will help reduce gun-related violent crime.
According to a news release from Hochul’s office, the law aims to provide law enforcement with data to identify potential ammunition stockpiling, which they believe could indicate suspicious activity.
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However, CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb condemned the legislation, stating, “Invading the privacy of law-abiding firearms owners and tracking their purchases is Orwellian, and is unlikely to accomplish anything other than multiple daily violations of the Fourth Amendment. The very nature of this legislation automatically suspects every gun owner in the state of planning a violent crime and allows their privacy to be violated. This is 2025, not 1984, and ‘Big Brother’ should not be watching anybody.”
Gottlieb further asserted that the law presumes criminals use credit cards to purchase firearms and ammunition, a notion he considers detached from reality. He believes the legislation will only push the illegal firearms market further underground.
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He also argued that the legislation treats New York firearms owners as “second-class citizens” and infringes upon their constitutional rights.
“We are left to wonder which constitutional right Hochul and her colleagues will erode next,” Gottlieb said.
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