Bill Description: House Bill 272 would expand the protections of the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act.

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Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?

In 2023, the Idaho Legislature passed House Bill 295 to create the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act. The original version of the bill protected gun owners from collusion and surveillance from all financial institutions, but the bill was amended to narrow the scope of its protections only to "payment networks." 

House Bill 272 would address this deficiency by amending Section 18-3326A, Idaho Code, to change several places where the act references a "payment network" to say "financial institution or payment network." 

The purpose of the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act is to prevent official or unofficial registries of privately owned firearms or of firearms owners. It does this in part by preventing financial institutions or others from using a "merchant category code" to track gun and ammunition sales based on financial data the merchant provides during a sale.

Including financial institutions in this act will create consistency between how financial institutions and payment networks process firearm transactions. And this should better protect private businesses and gun owners from unauthorized tracking and surveillance. 

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