Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) plans to put forward legislation containing a rule to protect access to financing for the gun industry and oil companies.
The Hill reports the provision is designed to prevent banks from “declining to serve industries based on categorical exclusions rather than individual risk.”
The rule was first introduced last year, and came as a way of preventing the reappearance of operation Choke Point, which saw banks and credit processors deny services to gun companies and other businesses because of their ties to the firearms industry.
Choke Point occurred during the Obama Administration, and was headed by political operatives and career bureaucrats at the Department of Justice, the FDIC, and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It began under an 2009 Obama executive order and resulted in numerous gun-related companies losing access to financial institutions and/or credit processing.
On May 30, 2014, Breitbart News reported Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) describing Operation Choke Point as illegal and demand the Justice Department shut it down.
He said, “In light of the Department’s obligation to act within the bounds of the law, and its avowed commitment not to ‘discourage or inhibit’ the lawful conduct of honest merchants, it is necessary to disavow and dismantle Operation Choke Point.”
As Sen. Cramer pushes the rule to prevent the reemergence of Operation Choke Point, he is framing the fight as one against “discrimination” in the financial sector: “There is no place in our society for discrimination, and big banks are no exception. Financial service providers do not have the right to circumvent the Constitution or the law to create de-facto bans on legally-compliant businesses like energy producers or firearms manufacturers when they believe it is politically convenient.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News 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.