Gun News of the Week: Senate Republicans to Censure Banks that Discriminate Against Gun-Makers, Sellers
Plus: Insurers Balk at Issuing Polices for Armed School Staff, Teachers
BY JOHN HAUGHEY MAY 29, 2018
TOP STORY
Senate Republicans to Censure Banks that Discriminate Against Gun-Makers, Sellers
Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) plans to file complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against banks that he maintains are illegally restricting gun sales and will also propose a bill to stop banks from discriminating against gun buyers.
Major banks are restricting their credit card and banking services to gun retailers and have halted lending to gun makers that do not comply with age limits and background check rules determined by the banks.
"If you're going to turn us into a nation of red banks and blue banks, you're making a mistake," Kennedy, a member the Senate banking committee for former Louisiana State Treasurer, told the New York Times in a May 27. "Don't come crying to us when you screw up and you want the American taxpayer to bail you out."
In March, Citigroup informed gun-sellers that did not comply with its age limits and background check rules that they will not be able to raise capital. The bank said it would drop clients that do not change their policies.
Bank of America in April announced it would no longer lend money to manufacturers of semi-automatics such as AR-15-style rifles.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, offered a new line of investment funds that excluded firearms manufacturers and retailers that severed them from potential avenues of financing.
The National Rifle Association's (NRA) Institute for Legislative Action has been monitoring how bankers have infringed on constitutional rights
"There is growing evidence that some of America's financial elite want to create a world in which America's public policy decisions emanate from corporate boardrooms in Manhattan rather than from citizens and their elected officials," the NRA maintains.
