by J.D. Davidson
Gun owners in Ohio won’t have to worry about firearm purchases being tracked by financial institutions or having to carry liability insurance.
Senate Bill 58, one of a series of bills signed into law late Wednesday by Gov. Mike DeWine, received backing from pro-gun organizations like the National Rifle Association and Buckeye Firearms. But the Ohio Mayors Alliance and the Ohio Municipal League both opposed it.
Known as the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act, the new law stops government entities from keeping a list of privately owned firearms or firearm owners and prohibits banks and other financial institutions from assigning a firearms code in a way that distinguishes a firearms retailer from other retailers.
The law, originally introduced in March, attacks a rule established by four major credit card companies that would create a new four-digit code to classify merchants by their business, specifically those that sell guns and ammunition.
Established in 2022, the rule has been on hold since.
“Our Second Amendment is under attack again by a leftist international organization that wants to stomp on your Constitutional right to purchase firearms,” Sen. Terry Johnson, R-McDermott, said the bill passed the Ohio Senate nearly a year ago. “Enough is enough. Senate Bill 148 preserves your fundamental Second Amendment rights and prevents your privacy from being invaded by big government and private corporations.”
The bill also stops cities from requiring gun owners to carry liability insurance, a provision supported by the NRA. An analysis from the Ohio Legislative Service Commission showed no political subdivisions in the state currently require it.
“Mandating law-abiding gun owners purchase firearms liability insurance is an unnecessary financial burden that infringes upon a constitutionally protected right,” the NRA’s John Weber said in testimony before the Senate Veterans and Public Safety Committee. “Forcing gun owners to incur additional fees on top of the already expensive costs of purchasing and maintaining firearms will only make it more difficult for good people to defend themselves and their families. Furthermore, liability insurance will never cover criminal acts, and those who break the law are already liable through our justice system.”
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An Ohio native, J.D. Davidson is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience in newspapers in Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. He has served as a reporter, editor, managing editor and publisher. Davidson is a regional editor for The Center Square.
