Exercising the Right
Gun Owners Stand Up to Anti-gun Banks
The New American recently reported on how major banks are working behind the scenes to implement gun control through banking rules, rules that the anti-gun lobby hasn’t been able to get passed through the legislature. While that story certainly was disheartening to supporters of the Second Amendment, the good news is that gun owners are not taking this lying down. U.S. News & World Report reported on May 18 about how both Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America publicly declared their intentions to stop offering financial services to gunmakers if the gunmakers don’t comply with certain anti-gun demands, such as to stop selling guns such as the AR-15.
These moves by banks to force changes on the gun industry, which have stalled through political means, were actually cheered on by anti-gun politicians who normally talk about how much they cherish democracy and the legislative process. “We applaud this model of corporate responsibility and we hope that this is the path forward for similar financial entities,” wrote Senator Dianne Feinstein and 12 other anti-gun politicians in an open letter to the financial industry. The short-sightedness of the banks was soon revealed as it quickly became apparent that the Republican support they were counting on for some desired regulatory changes in the financial industry might be in jeopardy.
Reuters reported on May 18 that both Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the National Rifle Association (NRA) were both pushing back against the big banks. Banking lobbyists have long been pushing to get modifications of the 2010 Dodd Frank act that could prove to be quite lucrative for big banks such as Citigroup and Bank of America. But not so fast! GOA recently began lobbying legislators to modify the proposed deregulation with a statutory provision that would prohibit banks from discriminating against firearms makers. “Citigroup and Bank of America are threatening our Second-Amendment rights. They do not realize how much more there is to lose than to gain,” GOA’s executive director, Erich Pratt, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
JBS Member or ShopJBS.org Customer?
Sign in with your ShopJBS.org account username and password or use that login to subscribe.
Subscribe Now
- 24 Issues Per Year
- Digital Edition Access
- Exclusive Subscriber Content
- Audio provided for all articles
- Unlimited access to past issues
- Cancel anytime.
- Renews automatically
Subscribe Now
- 24 Issues Per Year
- Print edition delivery (USA)
*Available Outside USA - Digital Edition Access
- Exclusive Subscriber Content
- Audio provided for all articles
- Unlimited access to past issues
- Cancel anytime.
- Renews automatically