UPDATED, 12/22 — A proposed regulation to ensure that national banks and federal savings associations provide fair access to financial services is being opposed by anti-gunners who want to prevent firearms manufacturers from obtaining operating capitol, a top industry official says.
The proposal comes from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. That office is soliciting public opinion and comments must be received on or before Jan. 4, 2021.
The proposed rule would benefit far more than gun makers, Lawrence Keane at the National Shooting Sports Foundation acknowledged. Self-appointed social justice warriors are also attempting to dry up capitol for energy producers such as coal and oil companies, as mentioned in the proposed order.
In a prepared statement, NSSF urged the public to comment on a Proposed Rule in an effort to “bring back fair and equitable access to financial services provided by financial institutions for industries that have suffered politically-driven discrimination.”
“The firearm and ammunition industry strongly supports the OCC’s proposed rule,” the organization said. “NSSF is urging individuals to comment, especially if they share the concern that financial institutions benefitting from taxpayer-subsidized insurances, like the FDIC, and bailouts are improperly and unlawfully discriminating against legal, but politically-disfavored, industries, including firearm and ammunition production and sales, as well as other industries including oil and gas, coal, animal agriculture and private prison industries.
Here’s a section of the proposal:
“These banks are often reacting to pressure from advocates from across the political spectrum whose policy objectives are served when banks deny certain categories of customers access to financial services. The pressure on banks has come from both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors of the economy and targeted a wide and varied range of individuals, companies, organizations, and industries. For example, there have been calls for boycotts of banks that support certain health care and social service providers, including family planning organizations, and some banks have reportedly denied financial services to customers in these industries. Some banks have reportedly ceased to provide financial services to owners of privately owned correctional facilities that operate under contracts with the Federal Government and various state governments. Makers of shotguns and hunting rifles have reportedly been debanked in recent years.
“Independent, nonbank automated teller machine operators that provide access to cash settlement and other operational accounts, particularly in low-income communities and thinly-populated rural areas, have been affected. Globally, there have been calls to de-bank large farming operations and other agricultural business. And companies that operate in industries important to local economies and the national economy have been cut off from access to financial services, including those that operate in sectors of the nation’s infrastructure ‘‘so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof.”
“It’s wrong for banks to discriminate against a lawful industry,” Keane said via telephone. “Companies go out of business when they can’t get financing.”
To submit comments, follow these directions:
For online submission
Federal eRulemaking Portal – Regulations.gov Classic or Regulations.gov Beta.
- Regulations.gov Classic: Go to https://www.regulations.gov/. Enter “Docket ID OCC-2020-0042” in the Search Box and click “Search.” Click on “Comment Now” to submit public comments. For help with submitting effective comments, please click on “View Commenter’s Checklist.”
Click on the “Help” tab on the Regulations.gov home page to get information on using Regulations.gov, including instructions for submitting public comments.
- Regulations.gov Beta: Go to https://beta.regulations.gov/or click “Visit New Regulations.gov Site” from the Regulations.gov classic homepage. Enter “Docket ID OCC-2020-0042” in the Search Box and click “Search.” Public comments can be submitted (1) via the “Comment” box located below the displayed document information or (2) by clicking on the document title and then clicking on the “Comment” box on the top-left side of the screen. For help with submitting effective comments, please click on “Commenter’s Checklist.” For assistance with the Regulations.gov Beta site, please call (877) 378-5457 (toll free) or (703) 454-9859 Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. ET. or e-mail regulations@erulemakinghelpdesk.com.
Regular Mail: Chief Counsel’s Office, Attention: Comment Processing, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 400 7th Street, SW., suite 3E-218, Washington, DC 20219.
“You can’t cut off banking access to an entire industry because they make a politically incorrect, legal constitutional product,” Keane observed.
This proposed rule would stop the discrimination against the gun industry, he said.
