Since Parkland, the anti-gun left has enlisted the help of corporate America to do what they haven’t been able to accomplish through federal legislation or the courts – squeeze the NRA and the gun industry. We’ve seen car rental companies, airlines, cybersecurity companies and even cooler makers drop their affiliate deals with the NRA.
What’s more, thanks to the efforts of Governor Soprano and his Empire State regulatory agencies, banks and insurance companies have also been pressured into dumping their business relationships with the NRA and stop lending to firearms manufacturers.
Now, one US Senator wants to do something about that where banks are concerned.
In response to banking institutions that have imposed policies against business related to the firearms industry in the wake of the deadly school shooting in Florida earlier in the year, Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy proposed legislation prior the recess that would prohibit the federal government from granting contracts to banks that discriminate against lawful businesses and based only on social policy considerations.
Kennedy was no doubt inspired by the successful efforts in his home state to cut Citibank and B of A out of the state’s road improvement bond underwriting business.
“Targeting firearms owners and business owners is not only an affront to responsible gun owners across this country; it’s a threat to the sanctity of our Constitution and the Second Amendment,” Kennedy said before the Committee earlier in the month.
He went on to say, “Citigroup and Bank of America have decided to make banking a red versus blue issue by trampling on the Second Amendment rights of small business owners. And if additional big consumer banks come out with similar anti-gun policies, it will get harder and harder for businesses in Louisiana and elsewhere to find banking services. We’ll have red banks and blue banks.”
He added, “I want to make sure that the federal government isn’t rewarding this behavior with even more taxpayer dollars. I have already petitioned the General Services Administration to cancel the federal government’s $700 billion contract with Citigroup.”
We’ll second that emotion. Kennedy’s bill doesn’t tell the big banks who they can and can’t do business with. It only stipulates that if they decide to pick and choose their customers based on political and social justice considerations, then taxpayer dollars won’t be spent to subsidize the practice.