During the August 18, 2018, airing of Breitbart News Saturday, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry explained that he chose, in part, to withhold $600 million from Citigroup and Bank of America because they are “trying to become the social police.”
On August 16, 2018, Breitbart News reported Landry’s decision to withhold the $600 million, a decision shared by the Louisiana Bond Commission and State Treasurer John Schroder.
The decision to withhold the money came after Citigroup and Bank of America each unilaterally placed gun control demands on their customers, going so far as to stipulate that bank-sponsored gun regulations had to be followed if financing was desired.
Landry used his appearance on Breitbart News Saturday to explain:
About four months ago, Citigroup and Bank of America, like, unfortunately some big corporations are trying to become the social police, they put out policies trying to restrict American citizens’ ability to legally access firearms. They both have someone different policies, but they basically would not extend financing to gun manufacturers or retailers, some of whom may sell guns legally to persons under 21.
He continued:
At the same time that [Citigroup and Bank of America] put these policies out, the state of Louisiana was looking for underwriters for a $600 million infrastructure project here. And [Citigroup and Bank of America] applied for us to evaluate them to be one of the underwriters, and in a very strong statement, conservatives in Louisiana said no, we are not going to do business with corporations that infringe or restrict our citizens’ right to legally access firearms.
Landry said a Citigroup representative spoke at the Bond Commission and could not tell him how many firearm-related homicides there are a year in America. Landry pointed out there “10,000 to 12,000” firearm-related homicides, “in comparison to automobiles, which is like 36,000, compared to opioids, which is like 65,000.”
Yet Citigroup is not placing new regulations on car manufacturers or car dealers, not are they putting new regulations on pharmaceutical companies.
Landry summarized, “It’s an infiltration of the left into boardrooms of major corporations… [and] they want to become the social police. And in Louisiana, we’re just not going to stand for that.”
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.