Operation Choke Point: Yet another Obama era attack on normal Americans

Recently, several banks including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and J.P. Morgan  have taken actions to deny firearms related business banking services from their institutions.  According to Tony Oliva at Bullets First these banks are also the most complained about. Indeed, the list of things pulled on their customers makes one think they should be charged under the RICO statute.

Yet, not only do these four banks rate as the most complained about financial institutions in the country but they also all have policies in place to punish, deny and/or harrass American’s who DARE to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights. I don’t mean that these banks simply hide under the naive cloak of gun free zones in their establishments. No, these banks have systematically and aggressively attempted to undermine the business of firearms in this country.

Bank of America has twice attacked gun manufacturers with monetary terrorism in recent years. McMillan Firearms Manufacturing were forced to close their accounts last year and transfer their business infrastructure elsewhere simply because they manufactured firearms...

...snip...

During the Christmas season of 2012, when guns are often purchased as Christmas and other Holiday Gifts, the sales from American Spirit Arms went up. In response to this Bank of America FROZE Spirit Arms accounts for THREE WEEKS starting on December 18th. For nearly a month American Spirit Arms could not access that money and the financial impact nearly sent them under at a time when they should have been the most profitable.

When Joseph Sirochman, owner of American Spirit Arms, contacted BoA he was told by a manager at the bank that the accounts and deposits would be held under “further review” and that, as a policy “we believe you should not be selling gun and parts on the internet.”

I don’t know about you but I don’t think that Bank of America should be allowed to use the word America in their name as their actions are about as un-American as they come.

As always, please go read Mr. Oliva's post.

Now, these banks did not start this directly because of the Obama Administration "Operation Choke Point," but they were certainly emboldened by it.  And now, we have Proof of authoritarianism in the form of:

A lawsuit against federal banking regulators filed last Friday in Washington D.C. may appear at first blush to be a simple case of due process violation but, according to at least one legislator and a former ambassador, documents released in the case actually prove an Obama-era program, long thought to prevent some businesses disfavored by that administration from operating, was doing exactly that.

You can read the article, written by Sarah Lee at Townhall.com under the title Proof of authoritarianism: Operation Choke Point Revisited. In the modern world, the extending of credit to businesses is a requirement. A business will hire people to produce a product, and others to sell that product. There is typically a lag between when the product is produced, and when the business receives funds for the sale of its products. The middle man here is the bank, which extends credit to keep the employees paid, the lights on, and the businesses creditors paid until the business receives the funds from the sale of its product and pays the bank back the money it has borrowed, with of course, interest. They may also seek funds as capitol for expanding the business, building new facilities, or buying new tooling. Such is true of all businesses. Thus, banking services may be seen as a utility. Utilities may not deny services to any legal business, which are businesses producing legal products.

 In the case of American Spirit Arms, B of A essentially withheld the funds American Spirit had earned, and with which it would have paid off its loans, thus forcing American Spirit out of business based solely on a philosophy.  Of course, our A rated by the NRA Congress should have done something to stop this, but I am glad at least one victim of these arrogant banks are taking them to court.  Perhaps with a more Constitutionally minded Supreme Court we will finally get some relief.

To B of A and the rest, please note: the money deposited in your banks by us is not your money.  It is ours.  We have a fiduciary relationship with you, but you may not tell us how to spend our funds, no matter that you disagree.