North Carolina 2025-2026 Regular Session

North Carolina House Bill H38 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1	1		GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
2	2		SESSION 2025
3		-	H 2
	3	+	H 1
4	4		HOUSE BILL 38
5		-	~~Committee Substitute Favorable 4/15/25~~
	5	+
6	6
7	7		Short Title: Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act. (Public)
8		-	Sponsors:
9		-	Referred to:
	8	+	Sponsors: Representatives Pyrtle, Miller, Goodwin, and Chesser (Primary Sponsors).
	9	+	For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
	10	+	Referred to: Commerce and Economic Development, if favorable, Judiciary 1, if favorable,
	11	+	Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
10	12		February 5, 2025
11		-	H38-v-2
	13	+	H38-v-1
12	14		A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
13	15		AN ACT TO ENACT THE SECOND AMENDMENT FIN ANCIAL PRIVACY ACT. 2
14	16		The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 3
15	17		SECTION 1. Chapter 66 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Article 4
16	18		to read: 5
17	19		"Article 52. 6
18	20		"Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act. 7
19	21		"§ 66-511. Legislative findings. 8
20	22		The General Assembly finds all of the following: 9
21	23		(1) The right of individuals to keep and bear arms is guaranteed under both the 10
22	24		Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 30 of 11
23	25		Article I of the North Carolina Constitution. 12
24	26		(2) In September 2022, the International Organization for Standardization, based 13
25	27		in Switzerland, approved a new merchant category code for firearms 14
26	28		merchants. 15
27	29		(3) The new merchant category code would allow payment card networks and 16
28	30		others involved in payment card processing to identify and separately track 17
29	31		lawful payment card purchases at firearms merchants in North Carolina. This 18
30	32		surveillance would cause a significant chilling effect on individuals in North 19
31	33		Carolina wishing to exercise their federal and State constitutional rights to 20
32	34		keep and bear arms. 21
33	35		(4) In order to protect consumers in this State and promote lawful commerce in 22
34	36		this State, the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act prohibits payment 23
35	37		card networks from using a firearms code or maintaining a firearms registry. 24
36	38		"§ 66-512. Definitions. 25
37	39		The following definitions apply in this Article: 26
38	40		(1) Firearms code. – Any code or other indicator that identifies to a payment card 27
39	41		network any of the following: 28
40	42		a. Whether a person is a firearms merchant. 29
41	43		b. Whether a payment involves the purchase of a firearm or firearm 30
42	44		ammunition. 31
43	45		(2) Firearms merchant. – A person engaged in the lawful business of selling or 32
44		-	trading firearms or firearm ammunition. 33
45		-	(3) Payment card network. – An entity that: (i) directly or through licensed 34
46		-	members, processors, or agents, provides the proprietary services, 35
47		-	infrastructure, and software to route information and data for the purpose of 36 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
48		-	Page 2 House Bill 38-Second Edition
49		-	conducting electronic payment transaction authorization, clearance, and 1
50		-	settlement; and (ii) a merchant uses to accept as a form of payment a brand of 2
51		-	debit card, credit card, or other device that may be used to carry out electronic 3
52		-	payment transactions. This term does not include the following: 4
53		-	a. A bank holding federally insured deposits from individuals. 5
54		-	b. A credit union holding federally insured deposits from individuals. 6
55		-	"§ 66-513. Prohibitions. 7
56		-	(a) No payment card network shall use or permit a firearms code in connection with a 8
57		-	payment card transaction involving a firearms merchant located in this State. 9
58		-	(b) No payment card network shall knowingly maintain a record of individuals residing 10
59		-	in this State who own firearms. 11
60		-	(c) No payment card network shall discriminate against a firearms merchant based solely 12
61		-	on the assignment or nonassignment of a firearms code, including by refusing to serve on similar 13
62		-	terms or declining a lawful payment card transaction. 14
63		-	"§ 66-514. Enforcement; civil penalty. 15
64		-	(a) The Attorney General may investigate an alleged violation of this Article. After notice 16
65		-	and an opportunity for hearing, if the Attorney General determines that a payment card network 17
66		-	violated this Article, the Attorney General may assess a civil penalty of not more than five 18
67		-	thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation. The clear proceeds of any penalty assessed pursuant 19
68		-	to this section shall be remitted to the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund in accordance with 20
69		-	G.S. 115C-457.2. 21
70		-	(b) The powers vested in the Attorney General by this Article are in addition to and do 22
71		-	not limit the ability of the Attorney General to take other enforcement action. 23
72		-	"§ 66-515. Civil liability for violation. 24
73		-	(a) Cause of Action. – A civil action may be brought against a payment card network for 25
74		-	violation of this Article by any of the following: 26
75		-	(1) A firearms merchant located in this State whose payment card transactions are 27
76		-	designated with a firearms code. 28
77		-	(2) A person that makes a payment card transaction with a firearms merchant 29
78		-	located in this State and whose payment card record includes a firearms code 30
79		-	for that transaction. 31
80		-	(3) An individual for whom a payment card network maintains a record of firearm 32
81		-	ownership. 33
82		-	(b) Relief and Damages. – A person authorized to institute a civil action by subsection 34
83		-	(a) of this section may seek and the court may award any or all of the following types of relief: 35
84		-	(1) An injunction to enjoin continued violation of this Article. 36
85		-	(2) Statutory damages in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each 37
86		-	instance of violation of this Article connected to the person filing the civil 38
87		-	action. 39
88		-	(3) Costs and attorneys' fees. 40
89		-	(c) Statute of Limitations. – No action shall be maintained under subsection (a) of this 41
90		-	section unless it is commenced no later than three years after the discovery of the violation of 42
91		-	this Article." 43
92		-	SECTION 2. This act becomes effective October 1, 2025. 44
	46	+	trading firearms or firearm ammunition. 33 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
	47	+	Page 2 House Bill 38-First Edition
	48	+	(3) Payment card network. – An entity involved in facilitating or processing an 1
	49	+	electronic transfer of funds between a merchant and a customer using a 2
	50	+	payment card. This term does not include the following: 3
	51	+	a. A bank holding federally insured deposits from individuals. 4
	52	+	b. A credit union holding federally insured deposits from individuals. 5
	53	+	"§ 66-513. Prohibitions. 6
	54	+	(a) No payment card network shall use a firearms code in connection with a payment 7
	55	+	card transaction involving a firearms merchant located in this State. 8
	56	+	(b) No payment card network shall knowingly maintain a record of individuals residing 9
	57	+	in this State who own firearms. 10
	58	+	(c) No payment card network shall discriminate against a firearms merchant based solely 11
	59	+	on the assignment or nonassignment of a firearms code, including by refusing to serve on similar 12
	60	+	terms or declining a lawful payment card transaction. 13
	61	+	"§ 66-514. Enforcement; civil penalty. 14
	62	+	(a) The Attorney General may investigate an alleged violation of this Article. After notice 15
	63	+	and an opportunity for hearing, if the Attorney General determines that a payment card network 16
	64	+	violated this Article, the Attorney General may assess a civil penalty of not more than ten 17
	65	+	thousand dollars ($10,000) for each violation. The clear proceeds of any penalty assessed 18
	66	+	pursuant to this section shall be remitted to the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund in accordance 19
	67	+	with G.S. 115C-457.2. 20
	68	+	(b) The powers vested in the Attorney General by this Article are in addition to and do 21
	69	+	not limit the ability of the Attorney General to take other enforcement action. 22
	70	+	"§ 66-515. Civil liability for violation. 23
	71	+	(a) Cause of Action. – A civil action may be brought against a payment card network for 24
	72	+	violation of this Article by any of the following: 25
	73	+	(1) A firearms merchant located in this State whose payment card transactions are 26
	74	+	designated with a firearms code. 27
	75	+	(2) A person that makes a payment card transaction with a firearms merchant 28
	76	+	located in this State and whose payment card record includes a firearms code 29
	77	+	for that transaction. 30
	78	+	(3) An individual for whom a payment card network maintains a record of firearm 31
	79	+	ownership. 32
	80	+	(b) Relief and Damages. – A person authorized to institute a civil action by subsection 33
	81	+	(a) of this section may seek and the court may award any or all of the following types of relief: 34
	82	+	(1) An injunction to enjoin continued violation of this Article. 35
	83	+	(2) Statutory damages in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each 36
	84	+	instance of violation of this Article connected to the person filing the civil 37
	85	+	action. 38
	86	+	(3) Costs and attorneys' fees. 39
	87	+	(c) Statute of Limitations. – No action shall be maintained under subsection (a) of this 40
	88	+	section unless it is commenced no later than three years after the discovery of the violation of 41
	89	+	this Article." 42
	90	+	SECTION 2. This act becomes effective October 1, 2025. 43