The details of Operation Choke Point came out in the Wall Street Journal a few days ago, but now more details are coming out suggesting that the DoJ may be pressuring banks to cut access to the financial system to gun shops as well, citing this article from a few days ago:
The Libertis’ battle with BankUnited began last month. For seven years, they say, they had no problem with the Miami Lakes-based bank. T.R. had run a gun store in the Garden State, and when he opened Top-Gun Firearms on Calle Ocho, BankUnited operated the account.
But when T.R. decided to retire and let Elizabeth take the store online — under the new name Discount Ammo-N-Guns — the Libertis found themselves suddenly under fire.
A March 12 letter mysteriously informed them that BankUnited was closing their checking account “pursuant to the terms and conditions listed in our Depositor’s Agreement.” It gave the Libertis three days to transfer their cash elsewhere. When the Libertis called BankUnited for an explanation, they were politely informed that none would be forthcoming.
Stories like this often come out and there is often more going on than the parties are saying, but even the original Wall Street Journal article noted that ammunition sellers were among the targets. It’s not much of a stretch to assume that Holder wants to go after gun dealers as well. This certainly merits concern and further investigation.
Via SayUncle, who also notes they are going after porn. They told me if I voted for Mitt Romney, dour puritans would go after guns, drugs and gambling, and they were right!
What would be the DOJ’s beef against the adult entertainment industry?
Social Justice Warriors and puritans often have oddly synchronous agendas…
Too pale, too many blonds.
USAA was founded in 1922 by a group of 25 U.S. Army officers to self-insure each other when they were unable to secure auto insurance due to the perception that they were a high-risk group.
Perhaps what we need is a USAA-esque approach to financing, to not only secure the stability of small businesses, but to cut big banks out of the profits.
I can’t even imagine how laws that would break these days.
To form a savings and loan? I don’t know that it would break any laws…
USAA runs an (affiliated, since you don’t have to be eligible for the insurance AFAIK) bank.
Silly me, I was unaware that banks were simply an arm of the federal government.
Silly you: every damn thing is a branch of the federal government!
Alanstorm,
Well, ever since the first bank bailout under GWB, and then the never ending string of ’em under Oblunder, along with a continuous “quantitative easing” from the Fed….
….they are now just a branch of the Feddle Gubbmint. With all that entails.
Good friend of mine is a local bank executive. His brother used to own a few banks, too. Both say that it’s now impossible for a bank to set very many of it’s own policies….that every damn thing you can think of is regulated, over regulated, and audited.
The USAA model would be a great one. Credit Unions come to mind. Keep in mind though, that as soon as an institution accepts FDIC or NCUA Federal Insurance…… well, lather, rinse, repeat.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
I get the whole “Big Brother” thing. But who does the NRA, SAF, GOA bank with? Seems to me the NRA would have some muscle to help law abiding folks who own gun related businesses. VISA never fell to the pressure of the anti gun groups.
Senatus Populusque Republica?
I have to admit, the inventor of the term “weaponizing government” is really on to something. EPA, IRS, now DOJ all weaponizing to destroy the political enemies of the state.
Weaponizing government, as in perverting the normal processes of government bureaucracy into a tool of political oppression.
Havel wrote of how similar means was the core method of repression in communist Czechoslovakia, despite the pretty written law and pretty constitution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Václav_Havel
Ok, I wasn’t too mad about the guns, because I expected it.
But now they want my porn? FROM MY COLD, STICKY HANDS!
“In 2011, the FDIC listed 30 “merchant categories that have been associated with high-risk activity,†likening pornography to Ponzi schemes, racist materials, “lifetime guarantees,†and sales of fireworks and tobacco”.
Via https://news.vice.com/article/is-the-doj-forcing-banks-to-terminate-the-accounts-of-porn-stars?trk_source=homepage-in-the-news
For a direct link to the FDIC web page…
http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/examinations/supervisory/insights/sisum11/managing.html