West Virginia Gov. Justice Signs Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act Into Law

West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice has signed into law House Bill 2004. Following last year’s announcement by the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) to create a new Merchant Category Code (MCC) for credit card transactions specific to firearm and ammunition retailers, West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore worked alongside lawmakers to introduce legislation prohibiting the use of credit and debit card transactions to track firearm and ammunition purchases. NSSF was proud to work with Treasurer Moore in the drafting of the legislation that would ultimately protect members of the firearm industry and consumers.

The new law will do the following:

• Prohibit financial institutions from disclosing a customer’s protected financial information.
• Prohibit a financial institution from using a firearms code to engage in discriminatory conduct, including:
  • Declining a lawful payment card transaction based on the assignment of a firearms code;
  • Declining to do business with a customer or merchant based on the assignment of a firearms code;
  • Charging a higher transaction fee to any merchant based on the assignment of a firearm code;
  • Taking any action against a customer or merchant that is intended to suppress lawful commerce involving firearms, ammunition, components, or accessories.
• Create remedies for violations of the law.
• Grants authority to the Attorney General and Commissioner of Banking to disqualify financial institutions found to have violated the law from the state’s competitive bidding process to provide financial services or product to the state related to payment card processing.

“This law signed by Governor Justice is the cornerstone of ensuring that ‘woke’ banking institutions are unable to weaponize credit card purchases at firearm retailers against the firearm industry or its customers,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “This law had tremendous support from inception. No West Virginia lawmaker voted against this bill as it made its way to Governor Justice’s desk. The firearm industry is on solid footing in Mountain State.”

NSSF thanks Gov. Justice for signing the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act into law, and standing with law-abiding citizens and the firearm industry against intrusions of privacy. We also thank Treasurer Moore for his work on this issue, along with West Virginia lawmakers who supported House Bill 2004.