http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKZ3mvB_b7c

We covered this story in the Digest, but the CCRKBA (Citizens Committee Right to Keep and Bear Arms) press release on Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s latest anti-2A initiative is a classic of the genre. In fact, it would be funny if it weren’t so true. Make the jump for the text. Meanwhile, stealing a page from Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, Texas Senator Ted Cruz has written to the two bullied banks to invite them down to the Lone Star State. Click here to read it. What are the odds the Justice Department will investigate the former White House Chief of Staff for violating the Hobbs Act of 1951?

BELLEVUE, WA – Anti-gun Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking his demagoguery to a new level by attempting to coerce banks into refusing service to firearms manufacturers, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

CBS News in Chicago reported that Emanuel was pressuring two major banks, identified as Bank of America and TD Bank, to stop lines of credit to Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger, two of the largest gun makers in the industry. In letters to bank executives, Emanuel reportedly said he wanted to send a message to gun makers that they must buckle under to gun control measures being pushed by the Obama administration.

“This is outrageous,” said CCRKBA (Citizens Committee Right to Keep and Bear Arms) Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Mayor Emanuel is acting like a Chicago gangster instead of a public servant, and we are very concerned that there might be legal ramifications. How dare the mayor engage in this kind of anti-gun lobbying effort, trying to cut off operating capital to a pair of perfectly legal companies that happen to be engaged in perhaps the most heavily-regulated business in the country.

“Gun owners and people who believe in the Bill of Rights should stop giving Chicago a line of credit by purchasing municipal bonds,” he added. “Rahm wants to send a message, and the nation should send him a reply.

“Mayor Emanuel is allegedly contending that lines of credit should dry up unless Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger submit to operating their businesses the way anti-gunners demand,” Gottlieb continued. “That conduct seems more in the realm of a street thug than a political leader, but then, again, we’re talking about a mayor who presides over a city with Draconian gun laws and a murder rate rivaling a Third World country.

Emanuel is a career anti-gunner who served in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, typically as point man on some kind of gun control effort.

“Mayor Emanuel seems to be under the illusion that he can force banks to act as his surrogates in an unrelenting campaign to crush the firearms industry and erase the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb said. “This is insidious and we hope the banks recognize it for the kind of below-the-belt political chicanery for which Chicago politicians have become famous. No wonder they sometimes refer to him as ‘The Godfather’.”

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22 COMMENTS

  2. No wonder they sometimes refer to him as ‘The Godfather’

    Um no, we prefer to call him ‘Tiny Dancer’.

    We have another two dead already today (plus 10 shot and wounded) bringing the total dead for January up to 43. With unseasonably high temps lingering around for the next day or so, expect a solid end to the month.

    heyjackass.com
    @W_H_Thompson

  4. Mr. Mayor,

    How about this:

    1. Your personal bank has decided to close all of your accounts; please come to pick up your check for your remaining balances. You are not allowed to cash that check here however.
    2. All of your credit card accounts have been closed;
    3. Your money (cash) is not accepted at any place upon which you decided to do business.
    4. If you owe any taxes, you will have to physically go to their office in D.C. and pay your bill in Pennies that you have personally counted out and wrapped – subject to a double check of course.

    These decisions have been made after much thought and personal reflection since we have decided not to allow thugs and mobsters or anyone nicknamed the Godfather to operate anywhere in this country.

    Have a nice day.

  5. “and a murder rate rivaling a Third World country.” …Thats awfully cruel to the 3rd world countries. Sure thy aren’t developed but comparing them to Chicago is just mean spirited. [/sarc]

  7. I agree that a public servant should stay out of banking and legitimate business. I hope the people of Chicago see this man for who and what he is and chose to NOT elect him again. It’s not like he’s done any good or made the lives of Chicago’s any better. In fact I think the time he’s been mayor the crime rate has increased, public services have decreased, and their taxes have increased. He get’s more wealthy and as a Want to be dictator is the population of Chicago get’s the stick…

    • As a life long resident of Chicago……most of us would like nothing better than to see anyone other than a crooked democrat in office. This is unbelievable. What a joke.

  8. The pro gun community should not invest in the bonds or investments of Chicago, NYC, and other anti-gun locations. Those cities (and states) should also be boycotted for vacations.

  9. The gun industry, as a whole, needs to stop selling to those who are seeking to criminalize their biggest customer block. If the state police cannot buy ammo, arms and replacement parts, and the order comes down from the nutjob-in-charge to go confiscate the evil black rifles, I don’t see much cooperation forthcoming.

    I would think its obvious that a lot of company will go bankrupt if they cannot sell to their customers because of unconstitutional laws. I know for a fact that the gun buying public votes with their wallet, its time for the manufactures to start being a little more selective about who they are willing to sell to. Those that choose to support those who stand outside the recognized constitution of the USA will be dealt with on a economic level I am sure.

  10. Looks like Mayor Emanuel has asked 2 publicly traded banks to commit economic terrorism against the firearms industry.

  11. The first firearm or ammo manufacturer who decides to cut off dealings with all Illinois law enforcement agencies, will have my business for life.

    • It would be nice if they could cut off the politicians in uniform without affecting the cops on the street. I’d have mixed emotions if I got cut off in CA because my state is stupid enough to keep electing Feinstein. Then again, I’m a pro gun guy, and I have enough of my own ammo to keep me safe.

      Perhaps the manufacturers could first send out an affidavit or contract that the use of their prodcucts will be revoked to any agency who supports additional restrictions of the 2nd Amendement. Make the announcement public, and now the politicians are the enemies and not the manufacturers (which is already the case). If the manufacturers can maintain solidarity, that could put the hurt on NY, CA, and Chicago pretty quickly.

      The real problem is that the bloody shirt wavers would likely blame the manufacturers, and set up Feinstein as the “brave” victim. The failure of the liberal media to deal in facts is a real pain in the a$$.

  12. Not to worry. Illinois bond rating was just reduced to the lowest of any state in this great nation of ours, and chicago’s rating has been reduced three times in the last three years. One more cut and they’ll be out of most portfolios.

    • Yep, exactly Ralph.

      They’re probably out of most high-quality portfolio/funds already, but when (not if) they’re cut to junk, there are a large number of funds and portfolios that will be required to eliminate Chicago paper from their holdings.

      At that point, the interest rate on Chicago’s new debt issuance will skyrocket.

  13. Since the City is essentially bankrupt about the only people buying Chicago’s bond are thee public employee pension funds.

  14. How do Springfield Armory and LMT stay in Illinois? It’s like Bushmaster, Kimber, and Remington in New York, or Colt in Connecticut. I understand logistics and capital investment, but it seems ridiculous that major gun manufacturers maintain a presence in states that ban the sale of what they produce!!!

    • The reason why these companies stay in these places is that many of the most gun-friendly states have a limited manufacturing/industrial “ecosystem.”

      For example, here in Wyoming, if you want to buy tooling for a gunsmith shop, you have to drive to Billings, MT to find a limited selection, or Rapid City, SD for a somewhat better selection. There’s plenty of machine shops in Wyoming, but they cater to very large workpieces for the oil/coal/gas industries – shops where the lathes have 35 ton gantry cranes over them to load in the workpieces, stuff like that.

      This is one of the reasons why we’re losing so much industry and manufacturing to China. Once the underpinnings of the ecosystem (like steel foundries, forging shops, heat treating shops) get pushed out of business by zoning and environmental regs, the rest of the industry that depended on them start looking to locate elsewhere.

      For gun companies, I think Rapid City, SD is a good place to look at locating. There’s enough of an ecosystem there to really do business. Arizona is another state with a good gun manufacturing ecosystem.

  15. Smith & Wesson and Ruger or any other manufacturer should absolutely stop all municipal sales to any city or state that threatens their marketplace. This is blood money. Pull that business out of the state or cities. Refuse to do business with them. The police agencies depend upon the private market to support them and supply them with weapons and ammunition. Force them to buy cut-rate products, starve them out. I feel for the front-line officers, but their bosses have to suffer the consequences.
    No sound business case can be made to continue to sell to these state entities at low-bid thin margins while at the same time see that same buyer diminish their retail markets. I suspect many people would cheer such a move.

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