Citibank Requiring Gun Store Customers to Quit Selling ‘High Capacity’ Magazines

Citibank used a March 22 “Commercial Firearms Policy” to announce a requirement that gun stores quit selling “high capacity” magazines in order to do business with the bank.

Citibank’s new policy:

Under this…policy, we will require new retail sector clients or partners to adhere to these best practices: (1) they don’t sell firearms to someone who hasn’t passed a background check, (2) they restrict the sale of firearms for individuals under 21 years of age, and (3) they don’t sell bump stocks or high-capacity magazines. This policy will apply across the firm, including to small business, commercial and institutional clients, as well as credit card partners, whether co-brand or private label. It doesn’t impact the ability of consumers to use their Citi cards at merchants of their choice.

Every gun purchased at retail must already be acquired via a background check according to federal law. Citibank’s emphasis on background checks would require licensed firearms dealers to go beyond federal law and refuse to sell a gun to anyone if an instant background check lasts three business days without incriminating evidence being discovered against the would-be buyer.

The emphasis on not selling long guns to 18-20 year olds, in states where such sales are legal, is also asking licensed firearms dealers to go above and beyond what federal law requires. It is legal, federally, to sell long guns to persons 18 years old and older.

Citibank contends that their firearms policy is “not centered on an ideological mission to rid the world of firearms.” Rather, they said the policy is an expression of “common-sense measures that would help prevent firearms from getting into the wrong hands.”

On March 9 Breitbart News reported that Visa refused to cave to a pressure campaign designed to force the company into cutting ties with certain semiautomatic rifle manufacturers. Visa said, “We do not believe Visa should be in the position of setting restrictions on the sale of lawful goods and services.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.