MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2023 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representatives Owen, Barnett, Bennett, Boyd (19th), Carpenter, Currie, Darnell, Felsher, Ford (73rd), Hobgood-Wilkes, Hopkins, Hulum, Lancaster, McCarty, McLean, Morgan, Newman, Pigott, Read, Scoggin, Shanks, Wallace, Williamson, Bounds, Crawford, Stamps
AN ACT TO CREATE THE "SECOND AMENDMENT FINANCIAL PRIVACY ACT"; TO PROVIDE LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS; TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS RELATING TO THE ACT; TO PROHIBIT A STATE AGENCY OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THE STATE, OR ANY OTHER PERSON, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE, FROM KEEPING ANY RECORD OF PRIVATELY OWNED FIREARMS, OR REGISTRY OF THE OWNER OF THOSE FIREARMS; TO PROHIBIT A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION FROM USING A FIREARMS CODE TO ENGAGE IN CERTAIN DISCRIMINATORY CONDUCT IN THE STATE; TO AUTHORIZE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGED VIOLATIONS OF THIS ACT; TO AUTHORIZE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO PURSUE AN INJUNCTION AGAINST ANY ENTITY OR INDIVIDUAL IN VIOLATION OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act".
SECTION 2. The Legislature finds that:
(a) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the people the right to keep and bear arms;
(b) Article III, Section 12, of the Mississippi Constitution provides that "The right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be called in question, but the Legislature may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons";
(c) In September 2022, the International Standards Organization, based in Switzerland, approved a new merchant category code for firearm and ammunition merchants;
(d) In the letter to payment card networks, federal lawmakers stated that the new Merchant Category Code for firearms retailers would be ". . .the first step towards facilitating the collection of valuable financial data that could help law enforcement in countering the financing of terrorism efforts", expressing a clear government expectation that networks will utilize the new Merchant Category Code to conduct mass surveillance of constitutionally protected firearms and ammunition purchases in cooperation with law enforcement;
(e) The new Merchant Category Code will allow the banks, payment card networks, acquirers, and other entities involved in payment card processing to identify and separately track lawful payment card purchases at firearms retailers in the State of Mississippi, paving the way for both unprecedented surveillance of Second Amendment activity and unprecedented information sharing between financial institutions and the government;
(f) This potential for cooperative surveillance and tracking of lawful firearms and ammunition purchases will have a significant chilling effect on citizens wishing to exercise their federal and state constitutional rights to keep and bear arms in Mississippi;
(g) While federal law requires some financial institutions to report transactions that are highly indicative of money laundering or other unlawful activities, there is no federal or state law authorizing financial institutions to surveil and track lawful activities by customers in cooperation with law enforcement;
(h) The creation or maintenance of records of purchases of firearms or ammunition or the tracking of sales made by a retailer of firearms or ammunition by a nongovernmental entity, including a financial institution, without a substantial and historical business need or a requirement imposed by law, may frustrate the right to keep and bear arms and violate the reasonable privacy rights of lawful purchasers of firearms or ammunition; and
(i) Based on the above stated findings, it is the intent of the Legislature to prohibit the misuse of payment card processing systems to surveil, report, or otherwise discourage constitutionally protected firearm and ammunition purchases within the State of Mississippi.
SECTION 3. As used in this act, the following words shall have the meanings as defined in this section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "Assign" or "assignment" means a financial institution 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 financial institution 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.
(b) "Customer" means any person engaged in a payment card transaction that a financial institution facilitates or processes.
(c) "Disclosure" means the transfer, publication, or distribution of protected financial information to another person or entity for any purpose other than to process or facilitate a payment card transaction.
(d) "Financial institution" means an entity involved in facilitating or processing a payment card transaction, including, but not limited to, a bank, acquirer, payment card network, or payment card issuer.
(e) "Financial record" means a record held by a financial institution related to a payment card transaction that the financial institution has processed or facilitated.
(f) "Firearms retailer" means any person or entity engaged in the lawful business of selling or trading firearms or ammunition to be used in firearms.
(g) "Firearms code" means any code or other indicator that a financial institution 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 or ammunition. The term "firearms code" includes, but is not limited to, a Merchant Category Code assigned to a retailer by a payment card network or other financial institution.
(h) "Government entity" means any county or municipality, or state board, commission, agency, bureau, department, or any other political subdivision of the state.
(i) "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.
SECTION 4. (1) Except for those rewards kept during the regular course of a criminal investigation and prosecution, a state governmental agency or local government, special district, or other political subdivision or official, agent, or employee of the state or other governmental entity or any other person, public or private, 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.
(2) A financial institution or its agent may not require the usage of or assign a firearms or ammunition merchant category code to any merchant located in Mississippi that is a seller of firearms or ammunition separately from general merchandise retailers or sporting goods retailers.
SECTION 5. (1) The Attorney General may investigate alleged violations of this act and, upon finding a violation, shall provide written notice to any individual or entity, public or private, believed to be in violation of this act. Upon receipt of such written notice from the Attorney General, the entity shall have thirty (30) calendar days to cease the usage of a firearms or ammunition merchant code for any Mississippi merchant.
(2) If the entity fails to cease the usage of a firearms or ammunition merchant code for any merchant located in Mississippi after the expiration of thirty (30) calendar days from the receipt of written notice by the Attorney General's office, the Attorney General may pursue an injunction against any individual or entity, public or private, alleged to be in violation of this act, which a court may order, in addition to any such other relief, as the court may consider appropriate.
(3) It shall not be a defense to a civil action filed under this act that such information was disclosed to a federal government entity, unless such disclosure or action is required by federal law or regulation.
SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2023.