TITLE 18

CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS

CHAPTER 33

FIREARMS, EXPLOSIVES AND OTHER DEADLY WEAPONS

18-3326A.  second amendment financial privacy act. (1) For purposes of this section:

(a)  "Ammunition" means ammunition or cartridge cases, primers, bullets, or propellant powder designed for use in any firearm;

(b)  "Assign" or "assignment" means a payment network’s policy, process, or practice that labels, links, or otherwise associates a firearms code with a merchant or payment card transaction in a manner that allows the payment network or any other entity facilitating or processing the payment card transaction to identify whether a merchant is a firearms retailer or whether a transaction involves the sale of firearms or ammunition;

(c)  "Customer" means any person engaged in a payment card transaction that a financial institution facilitates or processes and any person or the person’s duly authorized representative who has transacted business with or has used the services of a financial institution or for whom a financial institution has acted as a fiduciary in relation to an account maintained in such person’s name;

(d)  "Disclosure" means the transfer, publication, or distribution of protected financial information to another person for any purpose other than to process or facilitate a payment card transaction;

(e)  "Financial institution" means:

(i)   A bank, savings and loan association, trust company, or credit union chartered pursuant to any state or federal law, a regulated consumer lender, a money service business, payment card issuer, or other institutions that are by law under the jurisdiction and supervision of the department of finance or the federal deposit insurance corporation; and

(ii)  An entity involved in facilitating or processing a payment card transaction, including but not limited to a bank, acquirer, gateway, payment card network, or payment card issuer;

(f)  "Financial record" means:

(i)   The original or a copy of any record or document held by a payment network pertaining to a customer of a financial institution utilizing the payment network, including any record of a transaction conducted by means of a customer bank communication terminal or other electronic device;

(ii)  A financial record held by a payment network related to a payment card transaction that the financial institution has processed or facilitated; and

(iii) Any information derived from such records or documents;

(g)  "Firearm" means any weapon that will, is designed to, or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive;

(h)  "Firearm accessory or component" means:

(i)   Any device specifically adapted to enable the wearing or carrying about one’s person or the storage or mounting in or on any conveyance of a firearm and any attachment or device specifically adapted to be inserted into or affixed onto any firearm to enable, alter, or improve the functioning or capabilities of the firearm;

(ii)  Any item that is used in conjunction with or mounted upon a firearm, including but not limited to telescopic or laser sights, magazines, flash or sound suppressors, folding or aftermarket stocks and grips, speedloaders, braces, ammunition carriers, and lights for target illumination; and

(iii) Any component for making ammunition, reloading materials and equipment, machinery, and tools for manufacturing ammunition;

(i)  "Firearms code" means any code or other indicator a payment network assigns to a merchant or to a payment card transaction that identifies whether a merchant is a firearms retailer or whether the payment card transaction involves the purchase of a firearm, firearm accessories or components, or ammunition. The term includes but is not limited to a merchant category code assigned to a retailer by a payment card network or other financial institution;

(j)  "Firearms dealer" means any person engaged in the lawful business of selling or trading firearms or antique firearms, as those terms are defined in 18 U.S.C. 921, or ammunition to be used in firearms or antique firearms;

(k)  "Government entity" means any state or local government agency or instrumentality thereof located in Idaho;

(l)  "Merchant" means a person or entity that accepts payment cards from customers for the purchase of goods or services. The term includes a firearms retailer that accepts payment cards for the lawful purchase of firearms, firearm accessories or components, or ammunition;

(m)  "Payment card" means a credit card, charge card, debit card, or any other card that is issued to an authorized card user and that allows the user to purchase goods or services from a merchant;

(n)  "Payment network" means a debit or credit network through which funds may be transferred, such as credit card associations, electronic funds transfer networks, or other organizations, or associations, that issue or sponsor a financial transaction device. A payment network does not include any financial institution as defined in this section; and

(o)  "Protected financial information" means any record of a sale, purchase, return, or refund involving a payment card that is retrieved, characterized, generated, labeled, sorted, or grouped based on the assignment of a firearms code. A customer’s protected financial information refers to protected financial information appearing in the financial records of a customer.

(2)  Except for those records kept during the regular course of a criminal investigation and prosecution or as otherwise required by law, a state government entity or local government, special district, or other political subdivision or official, agent, or employee of the state or other government entity or any other person, public or private, other than the owner or owner’s representative, may not knowingly and willfully keep or cause to be kept any list, record, or registry of privately owned firearms or any list, record, or registry of the owners of those firearms.

(3)  A payment network or its agent may not require the usage of a firearms code in a way that distinguishes a firearms retailer physically located in the state of Idaho from Idaho general merchandise retailers or sporting goods retailers.

(4)  A payment network may not discriminate against a firearms retailer by:

(a)  Declining a lawful payment card transaction based solely on the assignment or non-assignment of a firearms code to the merchant or transaction;

(b)  Limiting or declining to do business with a customer, potential customer, or merchant based on the assignment or non-assignment of a firearms code to previous lawful transactions involving the customer, potential customer, or merchant;

(c)  Charging a higher transaction or interchange fee to any merchant or for a lawful transaction based on the assignment or non-assignment of a firearms code; or

(d)  Otherwise taking any action against a customer or merchant that is intended to suppress lawful commerce involving firearms, firearm accessories or components, or ammunition, which action is based solely or in part on the customer’s or merchant’s business involving firearms, firearm accessories or components, or ammunition.

(5)  Except as otherwise required by law, a payment network may not disclose a financial record, including a firearms code that was collected in violation of this section.

(6)  The attorney general may investigate alleged violations of this section and, upon finding a violation, shall provide written notice to any individual or entity, public or private, believed to be in violation of this section. Written notice to any commercial entity shall be made to the entity’s registered agent. Upon receipt of such written notice from the attorney general, the entity shall have thirty (30) calendar days to cease the requirement for usage of the firearms code. At the attorney general’s discretion, an entity may be granted up to an additional one hundred twenty (120) days to cease the requirement for usage of the firearms code.

(7)(a)  Either a firearms retailer physically located within Idaho whose business was the subject of an alleged violation of this section or a customer who transacted at a firearms retailer physically located in Idaho whose business was the subject of an alleged violation of this section may petition the attorney general to investigate the alleged violation.

(b)  If the attorney general does not commence an action within ninety (90) days of receiving the petition pursuant to this subsection, then the firearms retailer or customer may file an action in a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin the individual or entity from requiring the firearms code in violation of this section.

(8)  If an individual or entity is found to be requiring the usage of a firearms code by any merchant physically located in Idaho in violation of this section and fails to cease the requirement for usage of the firearms code by any firearms retailer physically located in Idaho after the expiration of thirty (30) calendar days from the receipt of written notice by the attorney general’s office, the attorney general shall pursue an injunction against any individual or entity, public or private, alleged to be in violation of this section. The attorney general shall pursue an injunction pursuant to this section in a court of competent jurisdiction in the judicial district where the alleged violation occurred against the individual or entity in alleged violation of this section.

(a)  If a court finds that an individual or entity continues to be in violation of this section after thirty (30) calendar days from receiving written notice from the attorney general or from a finding by the court of a violation of this section, then the court shall enjoin the individual or entity from continuing to require the usage of the firearms code.

(b)  If an individual or entity knowingly and willfully fails to comply with an injunction as provided in this section within thirty (30) days after being served with the injunction, then the court shall impose a civil penalty in a sum not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per violation of an injunction issued pursuant to this section, committed after the expiration of the thirty (30) calendar day period after the entity or individual, public or private, was served with the injunction. In assessing such a penalty, the court shall consider factors including the financial resources of the violator and the harm or risk of harm to second amendment rights resulting from the violation. Any order assessing a penalty for violation of this section shall be stayed pending appeal of the order.

(c)  In addition to the remedies provided in this section, the attorney general or a petitioner who prevails in an action under this section shall recover costs, reasonable attorney’s fees, and any other remedy the court deems appropriate.

(9)  It shall not be a defense to an action filed pursuant to this section that such information was disclosed to a federal government entity, unless such disclosure or action was made based on a good faith conclusion that the disclosure or action was required by federal law or regulation.

History:

[18-3326A, added 2023, ch. 303, sec. 2, p. 914.]