Texas’ newest Senator, Republican Ted Cruz, blasted Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for the threatening letters the mayor sent to several American banks over their business connections with American gun manufacturers. Cruz advises the banks not to be bullied by the Windy City Mayor’s bluster.
On January 25th, Chicago Mayor Emanuel, former Obama Administration chief of staff, sent out letters threatening the CEOs of Bank of America and TD Bank Group, urging them to join those that stand against the Second Amendment and to cease doing business with law-abiding gun manufacturers.
In his own letter to these same banks, Senator Cruz noted his sympathy for the banks’ concern over being threatened by Emanuel and informed them that Texas has “a more modest view” of the role of government.
“We do not accept the notion that government officials should behave as bullies, trying to harass or pressure private companies into enlisting in a political lobbying campaign. And we subscribe to the notion, quaint in some quarters, that private companies don’t work for elected officials; elected officials work for private citizens,” Cruz wrote.
The Senator then welcomed the banks to do more business in the Lone Star State, bringing with them more economic growth and new jobs. “Texans value jobs and value freedom,” Cruz said.
Cruz thanked the banks for their commitment to the Second Amendment and lamented that “ambitious politicians would try to impose financial harm” on private companies all in order to push a left-wing, partisan agenda.
“Attempts to put law-abiding gun makers out of business hardly qualify as ‘modest common-sense gun control,'” Cruz states in his letter. “Instead, they are a manifestation of an unabashed agenda to deprive law-abiding citizens of our right to keep and bear arms.”
Cruz ended his letter with a shot straight at Mayor Emanuel.
“Finally, to Mayor Emanuel, you recently were obligated to pay over $1.1 million of taxpayer money in legal fees due to your unsuccessful assault on the Second Amendment. And, your city’s longstanding policies stripping citizens of their constitutional right to keep and bear arms have, in turn, produced some of the very highest crime and murder rates in the Nation.”
The letter continues saying, “Your continued anti-gun crusade may well cause some to wonder if the interests of the citizens of Chicago are being sacrificed in pursuit of a partisan agenda.”
Finally, Cruz asks Emanuel to leave the rest of America alone, saying, “directing your attack at legitimate firearms manufacturers undermines the Second Amendment rights of millions of Texans. In the future, I would as that you might keep your efforts to diminish the Bill of Rights north of the Red River.”