Republicans, owned by the NRA, threaten banks for trying to reduce gun violence
newsdepo.com
The craven submission of the Republican Party to the gun industry and its Russian-funded mouthpiece, the National Rifle Association, is never more clearly illustrated than when GOP members of Congress are commanded by that gun lobby to turn against even someRepublicans, owned by the NRA, threaten banks for trying to reduce gun violence
The craven submission of the Republican Party to the gun industry and its Russian-funded mouthpiece, the National Rifle Association, is never more clearly illustrated than when GOP members of Congress are commanded by that gun lobby to turn against even some of their party’s biggest donors. Because if they are willing to go against their own donor base in obedience to the gun manufacturers, they are certainly not going to care about the concerns of ordinary Americans caught in the crossfire of these weapons. They quite literally couldn’t care less. Witness how Republicans reacted when some of their biggest contributors, the financial industry, tried to take some small steps to meaningfully regulate the sales of these weapons: Major banks have taken a series of steps this year to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands. They are restricting their credit card and banking services to gun retailers and halting lending to gun makers that do not comply with age limits and background check rules determined by the banks. They are also freezing out businesses that sell high-capacity magazines and “bump stocks,” attachments that enable semiautomatic rifles to fire faster, even though such products are legal under federal law. The institutions that have initiated these efforts include such banking giants as Citigroup and Bank of America. Citigroup imposed restrictions on retail sellers of guns who refuse to implement background checks specified by Citigroup. Bank of America said it would no longer lend money to manufacturers of the AR-15, reasoning that the primary purpose of manufacturing such weapons was to facilitate killing innocent people with them, specifically in mass shootings. Other financial institutions have restricted credit-card services to gun retailers that refused to impose age restrictions on the purchase of firearms. Asset managers such as Black Rock have moved to created classes of mutual funds that do not include gun manufacturers in their portfolios. In response, Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, who is on the Senate Banking Committee, immediately laid down the law, bank contributions to his own party notwithstanding: Mr. Kennedy said he planned to file complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against banks that are effectively restricting gun sales by setting their own rules on legal products and refusing to do business with gun makers and retailers that do not comply. He is also working to get Republican colleagues to join him in writing legislation to stop banks from discriminating against gun buyers. Read more
