Obama forcing banks to stop doing business with gun companies
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| Bank of America has stopped doing business with McMillan due to pressure from the Obama administration. Credits: McMillan Group |
McMillan has been manufacturing firearms since 1973 and specializes in sniper hardware. On Wednesday, the company informed the Examiner that Bank of America will no longer allow the company to use its banking services "because [McMillan] is in the firearms business and supports the Second Amendment."
In a Feb. 13 email, Kelly McMillan, director of operations, voiced outraged at the bank's decision to cancel McMillan's lines of credit. The company, which is on a healthy financial standing, has had a business arrangement with the financial institution since 2001. According to McMillan, Ray Fox, senior vice president with B of A, acknowledged that it was a "politically motivated decision".
On McMillan's Facebook page, which has more than 19,000 fans, customers voiced their support for pro-gun activists. "I just canceled my BOA credit card, as did every member of my family who had one. Way to go McMillan we support you [100 percent]," said Wes Harper.
Since January, President Barack Obama and his administration has been quietly pressuring the nation's biggest banks to stop doing business with weapons manufacturers. Last month, CBS reported that Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former White House chief of staff, is pressuring major financial institutions such as Bank of America and TD Bank to stop their financial backing of gun makers.
Vice President Joe Biden has also been quietly working behind the scenes to ensure that, when dealing with gun companies, financial institutions cancel lines of credit, financing for acquisitions, and financial advising.
The administration's efforts don't stop there. Since January, the Obama administration - led by Biden and Emanuel - has been secretly pressuring pension funds across the country to divest its investments in weapons-related companies. These federal and state retirement funds are a major source of capital for U.S. gun manufacturers.
Last month, Yahoo! reported that public pension funds in California, Illinois, New York, and Pennsylvania (all Democrat strongholds) have been selling off their investments in weapons-related businesses. These actions will lower these companies' valuations and put a financial squeeze on investors, management, and workers.
In a letter sent to the CEOs of B of A and TD Bank, Emanuel said: "In the past, the gun industry has stood in opposition to these safety measures. They opposed a ban on assault weapons on America’s streets, opposed a ban on military-style clips, opposed a criminal background check on all gun purchases and opposed any effort to crack down on criminal gun traffickers."
McMillan isn't the only firearms manufacturer being targeted by Barack Obama. In his letter, Emanuel pressured TD Bank to withdraw its $60 million line of credit to Smith & Wesson which makes the AR-15 assault rifle. In a separate letter to Bank of America CEO Brian T. Moynihan, Emanuel wanted the bank to cancel its $25 million line of credit extended to Sturm, Ruger & Co.
Given B of A's recent actions against McMillan, major financial institutions are caving in to Obama's demands. Bank of America received $45 billion in taxpayer-funded bailout funds from the federal government since the 2008 financial crisis.
The effort to squeeze gun manufacturers are troubling not only to supporters of the Second Amendment of the U.S. constitution, which protects every citizen's right to own firearms, but to advocates of a growth economy at a time when the nation's effective unemployment rate may be as high as 14 percent nationally. The reason the government's 8 percent figure is likely underestimated is because it does not take into account the nearly nine million Americans that have left the workforce in the past two years.
In short, the administration's actions against America's firearms industry will likely result in the loss of tens of thousands of badly-needed jobs. Instead of making the economy his number one priority, Obama is making gun bans his top agenda.
American has historically been known as the center of free enterprise. Is that still the case? Barack Hussein Obama is clearly going after the bottom line of firearms manufacturers.
America's founding fathers protected citizens' rights to bear arms so that we would be able to defend ourselves against tyrants and criminals. Chicago has the strictest gun laws in the nation but is considered the murder capital of America where over 500 homicides occur each year. Criminals know that Chicago's residents are mostly unarmed, so that's where they strike.
The fallacy of liberals' arguments on gun bans is that they punish law abiding citizens by taking away their right to defend themselves. Indeed, progressives are often soft on crime, and thus are unwilling to mete out appropriate punishment on the bad guys who would do harm to our children and families.
George Washington wrote, "Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth." He added, "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
Who will protect us if martial law is declared?
Conservatives believe that bad people exist which means good people require an effective deterrent. On the other hand, liberals want to confiscate or regulate every tool that can cause harm, except the marijuana that they smoke.
America has much higher tax rates than "Communist China". Which begs the question: Are we still a democracy?
Here are other articles on Obama's gun control initiative:
1996: Obama supported banning all guns in Illinois
Administration's 23 ways to limit weapons
Wyoming drafts bill criminalizing enforcement of gun ban
Source: The Examiner
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