New Montana law bans firearm sales tracking by financial institutions

A new Montana law bans financial institutions from treating firearm purchases differently than general merchandise purchases.

"A financial institution may not require a firearms retailer in this state to use a firearms code that is different from that of a general transaction," Senate Bill 359 reads. The 2nd Amendment Financial Privacy Act was passed by the Legislature in April and signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte last month.

A trade group for the firearm industry applauded Gianforte for signing the bill into law and “fulfilling his duties and responsibilities to protect the Second Amendment rights of Montanans against ‘woke’ activists intent on creating a back-door gun registry through the use of this special [Merchant Category Code].”

"Americans exercising their right to legally purchase firearms and ammunition should never be threatened by private financial service providers or government authorities to having their name and financial data being added to a government-accessible watchlist simply for exercising their Second Amendment rights," Lawrence Keane, National Shooting Sports Foundation senior vice president and general counsel, said in a statement. "Governor Gianforte is ensuring that Montanans won’t be held captive by the radical ‘woke’ antigun agenda that seeks to weaponize credit cards in gun owners’ wallets against them."

"Gun owners should worry about what’s in their wallet, not who’s in their wallet," he added.

States with similar laws include Idaho, North Dakota, Mississippi, West Virginia and Florida.

“Federal legislation is pending,” according to NSSF.