Wall Street giants in recent years have made no secret that many do not want to provide essential financial services to the firearms industry. They used the nebulous “reputational risk” criteria to de-bank Second Amendment-related companies.
Of course, that excuse could be used for all manners of discrimination. The idea that financial firms would reject conducting business with an industry protected by the Constitution is troubling.
Firms may no longer dangle ‘reputational risk’ as an excuse for rejecting 2A businesses
That day has passed thanks to the White House putting its foot down against this injustice. A new Final Rule from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) eliminated this practice for good.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the industry trade association, celebrated this long-overdue victory. NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Lawrence G. Keane is thankful that its members are no longer subjected to this arbitrary blacklisting.
“This Final Rule effectively puts a nail in the coffin of the ‘woke’ discrimination against firearm and ammunition businesses by banks attempting to choke off those businesses by denying them access to essential banking services,” Keane declared.
Federal agencies are also prohibited from continuing the discriminatory pattern
He added that the Final Rule eliminated a practice that “was blatantly illegal and had already been rejected by Congress.”
The OCC and FDIC will no longer act against businesses due to “reputational risk” and are not allowed to criticize these institutions. The rule further prohibits agencies from mandating or encouraging financial entities to close customer accounts based on political, social, cultural, or religious convictions.
Something that should already be standard practice. It is not difficult to imagine the public and political outcry if Wall Street firms discriminated based on these factors, and the right to keep and bear arms should not be an exception.
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