Sydney Kamlager-Dove Banks gun makers
Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

The tactic for pressuring firearm-related business pioneered by New York Governor Andrew Soprano is now spreading to California.

State legislatures…are finding ways to pressure banks. Recently, California Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) introduced a resolution to urge “banks that have open demand accounts with the state to evaluate their relationships with gun manufacturers and adopt lending practices that protect citizens before profits.”

The resolution states the California has “demand accounts with six banks that concurrently lend to gun manufacturers, which are Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Union Bank MUFG, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo & Co.”  According to Kamlager-Dove, “California has more gun laws than any other state in the union.”  Hence, instead of proposing new laws, Kamlager-Dove’s resolution “intends to affect the proliferation of guns by urging six nationally chartered banks to curtail their relationships with gun manufacturers.

If major banks refuse to extend credit to gun manufacturers, borrowing costs for gun manufacturers would likely increase, which could reduce industry investment in additional capacity or new business lines.” Moreover, “such a result could reduce the proliferation of guns not only in California, but also across state lines.”

When I interviewed, Kamlager-Dove, she told me that she sat with banks and bank associations in California “as a courtesy and to encourage their members to come to the table and partner with the state to expand solutions to the gun violence epidemic outside of using the penal code.”
Even after devastating mass shootings, “firearms production continues. We have an overproliferation of guns,” she said. “Firearm companies still keep getting indebted, because they can borrow from banks.” She explained that in the past, companies and banks “were able to divest from South Africa during the time of apartheid. Now some banks in the U.S. want to divest from private prisons. We have been able to get banks to stop transactions in rogue countries.They can certainly end transactions with gun manufacturers, too.”
Kamlager-Dove emphasized that “We need to be having a conversation about banks and how they lend. This cannot only be about red flag bills. I am sure that many people killed are also customers and clients of banks. Doesn’t that deserve some consideration?”

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80 COMMENTS

  1. If we can only increase the price of a gun by 0.05% everyone will throw their guns away and California can get into the Guiness Book of World Records for world’s largest group hug – 40,000,000.

  2. fas·cism (făsh′ĭz′əm)
    n.
    1. often Fascism
    a. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

    • pa·ter·nal·ism
      /pəˈtərnlˌizəm/

      the policy or practice on the part of people in positions of authority of restricting the freedom and responsibilities of those subordinate to them in the subordinates’ supposed best interest.
      “the arrogance and paternalism that underlies cradle-to-grave employment contracts

    • au·thor·i·tar·i·an·ism
      /ôˌTHäriˈterēənizəm/

      the enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
      lack of concern for the wishes or opinions of others.

    • col·lu·sion
      /kəˈlo͞oZHən/

      secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.
      “the armed forces were working in collusion with drug traffickers”
      synonyms: conspiracy, connivance, complicity, intrigue, plotting, secret understanding, collaboration, scheming
      “there has been collusion between the security forces and paramilitary groups”

      LAW

      illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially between ostensible opponents in a lawsuit.

  3. So the Democrats pan Trump for saying he can force businesses out of China, but it’s ok for them to say that banks can’t lend to firearm manufacturers? Seems to me it’s another case of do as I say not as I do.

    • These people are free trade absolutists as long as it involves sending our jobs overseas or letting foreign governments continue nonreciprocal trade practices.

    • Silicon Valley is copying the Chinese social credit system. If your credit score is low, you can’t travel, buy a house, car, have another kid. If you support unapproved groups/parties/activities, your score drops. Is that the real purpose of Social Justice Warriors?

  4. Gee commiefornia… nice police force you have there… would be a pity if nobody sold them guns.

    • I’d settle for nobody selling them guns that aren’t legal for any law abiding California resident to own.

      • I like the Ronnie Barrett approach. You want to make our product illegal? Fine. We’ll make legal products for your state and then refuse to sell you ANY of our products.

      • What would really be nice is if Glock, S&W, etc. stopped selling ALL firearms to California LEO’s and agencies. We all know it won’t happen, but it might force some change if it did.

        • California agencies go through distributors for firearm purchases. And since when have Sig, Glock, or any European gun maker not sold to states/countries with extremely restrictive gun laws and/or no equivalent to the 2nd ammendment?

      • Who’s law?? The Constitution or the little demigods of the Peoples Socialist state of California?? My oath is to the Constitution, NOT dictators. Lex iniusta non est lex

    • We need to make sure Ruth Ginsburg gets replaced by a Justice that respects the Constitution. That may require some people on here, as Biden’s wife puts it, to hold their nose and vote Trump if he can’t replace her before the election. Replacing Ginsburg with a reliable conservative should be the number one goal for us.

      Then we get some Supreme Court precedents specifically affirming rights to mag limits, legality of firearms, no more strong-arm government and bank practices, etc.

      • She’s got pancreatic cancer. Given her previous cancer symptoms, that’s likely a metastasis so she’s living on borrowed time. Much as I don’t like her, cancer is a nasty way to die. Hopefully, she’ll have the decency to retire to enjoy the year or so she has left of decent health.

        • So it might happen before the election despite the scorched-earth practices of the dems and the media. Left wing Justice Breyer is over 80 and has said he will eventually retire. Imagine how the left would lose their minds if he was replaced with a young conservative.

        • ‘Hopefully, she’ll have the decency to retire to enjoy the year or so she has left of decent health.’

          You’re going to have to pry that gavel from her cold dead hands.

        • For Ruth, the Court is her whole life. She will not give it up, but will die with her robes on.

        • “For Ruth, the Court is her whole life. She will not give it up, but will die with her robes on.”

          “Weekend at Bernie’s Chapter 2, RGB…”https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/gangster-government-pressuring-banks-to-cut-off-services-to-gun-manufacturers/?replytocom=4320069#respond

      • The thing is, I’m getting real tired of holding my nose every election.
        Vote Demotard and lets get the CW2 ball rolling.

        • ARC says “Vote Demotard and lets get the CW2 ball rolling.”

          This is the fight, get used to it.

          Take your CW2 pipe dreams and shove them, as it would require the murder of unarmed people. The crush of the media and public sentiment would have you hiding in a hole like Saddam by days end.

          Then there would be no stopping a sweeping alteration to civil liberties, especially the 2A.

          You win by changing hearts and minds, the Dem leftist are on the wrong side of history, use that.

        • Keep telling yourself that, D.T.O.M. Eventually your children or grandchildren will be in the gulags if they are lucky. People like you are afraid of doing that which is obviously necessary. Your kind have always existed which is why tyranny still flourishes. Get to fighting or get to dying. Your choice. Choose wisely.

        • Yep…DTOM is just a moron who would bend over for the BLM crowd….. He thinks he can “win hearts and minds” of people who POSSESS NEITHER!!!!!!!

    • Asking banks putting virtue signaling before profits?

      The naivete of socialists is astounding.

      • Given how many corporations pissed away millions in “woke” SJW propaganda efforts? Maybe not so much.

    • It hasn’t been the government “of the people, for the people, by the people” for a long time. These days it’s the government “of the lawyers, for the political elitists, by the wealthy”. As to the government deriving its power from the people, it hasn’t worked like that for a long time, either. The government derives its size and power from the money it sucks out of all of us, and views us as subjects to be controlled. Only when somebody strikes back with a successful court case does the government retreat a little. The days of “that government is best which governs least” are long gone.

  7. It’s amazing to see a black person agree with the KKK and the racist and tyrannical government of state of Alabama.

    “Alabama sought to prevent the NAACP from conducting further business in the state. After the circuit court issued a restraining order, the state issued a subpoena for various records, including the NAACP’s membership lists.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAACP_v._Alabama

    Years later the state of Alabama went after sex toys. They said you couldn’t sell or get sex toys thru the mail.

    Libertarians Liberals and the Left are easily distracted with sex and drugs. In California you can get your sex and drugs unrestricted by the government. Except for guns.
    sex and drugs aren’t in the Constitution. But “Arms” are in the Constitution.

    The three L’s have all called single motherhood a “lifestyle choice”. They are incapable of saying having children outside of marriage is wrong. And they are incapable of admitting all of the socials problems that are caused by voluntary single motherhood. And they all support the Welfare Industrial Complex. California has the largest one.

    • Chris says ..”And they are incapable of admitting all of the socials problems that are caused by voluntary single motherhood..”

      Chris you are almost there, having been way to kind with the lefts motivation, you believe they are simply ignorant. The left targeted women long ago, this is not an inability of admittance, but rather a strategic move to transform women to reliable votes. They care not for the social problems that follow, in fact, they welcome them as another means to bring about their “fundamental change of America.”

      They are playing at another level, a level the people on the right and middle won’t, or don’t, want to always acknowledge.

  8. Imagining for a moment that the firearms industry wouldn’t just take a page from the pot industry and start it’s own institutions and continue paying federal taxes…

    These people don’t seem to realize that there are international banks and foreign manufacturers. At best they’re just attacking people who can’t afford a HK, SIG, Walther, IWI, Glock, CZ etc etc.

  9. “August 26, 2019 at 08:17
    fas·cism (făsh′ĭz′əm)
    n.
    1. often Fascism
    a. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.”

    Look at the above perfect definition. That’s our government today. It defines that Commie, Ratpublican TRUMP to a “Tee”. What a joke. Get with it “PEOPLE”.

    • Wow you sound a lot like vlad tepid. Made in america? Sounds more like made in venezuela to me. Shove off junior and come back when you have something remotely interesting and intelligent to say.

    • Bernie wants the government to take over the energy sector. The firearms industry would be a drop in the bucket compared to that. “Democratic Socialism” is a nice segue to communism and authoritarianism.

    • Oh look, another vapid commie troll with severe TDS… You going to shoot up another Walmart to fight capitalism?

    • Made in American, do you realize that Trump has eliminated more regulations than any previous president? That’s not what dictators do. It’s the democrats that are intent on reinventing the longstanding institutions of the Electoral College and the Supreme Court for the sole purpose of attaining power.

      • Why engage trolls with facts? They won’t pay attention to facts.
        Make fun of them instead. The ignorant commentary they spew is worth nothing but disdain and contempt.

        • EXACTLY!!!!!
          These people offer NO RESPECT to our wishes or concerns, and they SURE AS HELL can’t be reformed so yes… RIDICULE THEM FOR THEIR DISGUSTING BEHAVIOR AND INTENTIONS……

          MOLON LABE!!!!!!!!

  10. CA has already enacted some of the most stringent “gun control” laws in the 50 States*
    Despite all these infringements, the law-abiding California legal gun owning/shooting community thrives while gun-involved crime continues at an astronomical pace. For the Leftist Tyrants in Sacramento desperation is setting in.

    They cannot admit or accept that their anti-second amendment bias has failed abjectly, so now they will try to bankrupt the firearms industry and related businesses by conspiring with financial institutions to cut off the flow of money. “The Golden State” is fast becoming “The Sh*thole State” and pretty literally in places like San Francisco and Los Angeles

    *To list a few:
    >Mandatory Registration of Rifles, Shotguns and Handguns that fit particular descriptions
    >Requiring all purchasers of firearms to have a State Government issued “Firearms Safety Certificate”
    >Stringent difficulty in obtaining a CCW permit
    >Requiring ALL sales of firearms to be conducted through an FFL holder
    >Recording all firearms sales in a State Database
    >Enacting restrictions on Magazine Capacity
    >Establishing a “Roster” of “Safe” firearms that are “approved for sale” commercially in CA
    >Requiring a “background check” for ALL firearms sales
    >Controls on the sale of Ammunition requiring a “background check” for each purchase, requiring all purchases be conducted face-to-face and all Ammunition sellers to be licensed by the State
    >Strict Rules for the transport of firearms
    >Rules for storage of firearms
    …and more.

    • They’re conducting a war on guns while constantly telling us the failures of the war on drugs.

      We need Criminal Control not Gun Control. It’s Criminal Violence not Gun Violence.

    • Cripes! I forgot to list CA’s pioneering efforts on GVRO’s. Beyond violating Second Amendment protected RKBA, these “Red Flag” laws violate several other Constitutionally protected rights.

    • Waiting for a study in Commiefornia to determine how much greenhouse gasses are released by ammo being fired.

  11. Perhaps we should urge those six banks to cease doing business with rogue states… Such as California and New York.

  12. That form of discrimination/bigotry should introduce legal repercussions.
    We need to call it for what it is and be vocal of the terms.
    “discrimination and bigotry”

  13. Sounds to me like a perfect opportunity for Fedzilla to apply the Interstate Commerce clause and smack down California for attempting to interfere with Interstate Commerce.

    I believe a treason charge is also in order, since eliminating firearm manufacturers and distributors gives aid and comfort to enemies of the United States.

  14. Who would be next, candy makers, plastic bag manufacturers, soda companies, or how about we got after the banks who lend money to California? When a government starts going after legal, legitimate businesses you’ve started the engine on the train of abuses referred to in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. And I wonder if the Fourteenth Amendment covers such action, everybody in the country being treated equally?

    • “When a government starts going after legal, legitimate businesses you’ve started the engine on the train of abuses referred to in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.”

      The relationship between a country and her citizens is a marriage. All marriages have their ups and downs, it’s the nature of the beast. It’s also true that all marriages don’t last.

      When it becomes unavoidably clear that things aren’t working out, the two parties need to sit down and discuss the terms of the divorce…

  15. I hope these banks understand that, once you give into the demands of partisans in one state to persecute their political opponents on one issue, they’ve opened the floodgates for ALL state governments to coerce them on every political issue imaginable. Best to grow a spine now and tell them that isn’t how you do business. Once you pay the Danegeld, you are never rid of the Dane.

    • Aren’t banks, like any other public company, beholden first to shareholder interests which is why they are supposed to make profits to maximize the shareholder’s returns?

  16. If Trump and Congress can make boycotting Israel illegal, can’t they do the same for American businesses? Not familiar with the particulars, but it seems to be a similar concept. Banks do interstate commerce so you would think the Federal government has the power.

    • I think you know the answer to your own question…. OF COURSE THEY CAN!!!
      But you know, that old trope….

  17. This sounds like the government officials involved are committing deprivation of rights under color of law as well as possibly conspiracy against rights which are both federal crime and they are felonies. They are also committing the crime of interfering with interstate commerce which is yet another federal crime that is a felony. Also the conduct of these government officials may also constitute a RICO violation which is yet another federal crime and is a felony.

    • If all this is true, and I’m no attorney, then how can they get away with so many infractions without consequence?
      Someone “NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING!”, as famously quoted by the left so often.

  18. The only ways to really fight this is via the courts or for the feds to come down even harder. Despite the demonization, the “gun industry” is a fairly small part of the GDP, and banks might weigh populous states and their regulations more than minor gun clients. Even boycotts by gun rights activists is a paltry sum.

    The victims of these state actions would need to file restraint of trade or similar lawsuits against the states. If a state is just saying that it won’t do business with gun related banks (CA), that’s a harder case to make than NY’s threat to exercise its regulatory power to punish those banks. A state or individual should be able to choose freely who to invest with or borrow from. Bank shareholders only have a case if the stock price drops when a bank drops some customers to gain favor with others. That leaves the big hammer of the feds to threaten increased regulatory oversight for the banks that do refuse to do business with legal industries – kind of a reverse Operation Chokepoint. I find that option repugnant. It’s like a big bully going after someone for not standing up to a little bully. OTOH, the feds could refuse to do business with those banks, which is slightly less egregious when government vendors should be chosen for quality and price of their services instead of political reasons.

    • I reflexively recoil from the thought of the feds getting involved in anything, but I’m coming around to it.

      If they can actually make a rule that increases freedom of association, then I’m all for it. I still don’t think they’ll manage it; just like the ways they’ve proposed to deal with the GoogleFaceTwitApple oligarchy, whatever they come up with will probably make the problem worse and give the government even more power it’ll inevitably misuse.

      But if they could manage to do it mostly right, I wouldn’t look that gift horse in the mouth.

  20. There is really only one way to restore liberty at this point in decline. Mass civil disobedience is the carrot and if it doesn’t work (it very likely won’t), then the stick is needed.

    The long game favors tyranny. The rot has been allowed to go on far, far too long.

    • I predict that if the kind of stuff starts happening, eventually you’ll see politicians swinging from LED lamp posts.

  21. It may be an act of interfering with law enforcement as well as possibly treason for these government officials to destroy the gun manufacturers since in doing so they are destroying the supply chain of guns to the military and police.

  22. When I’m President, I’m gonna close every single bank that lent money to Starbucks, The New York Times, and all those bakers who make wedding cakes for the mockery of marriage performed by homosexuals. Democrats, they won’t see me coming until it’s too late!

  24. There is no end to the ways government is seeking to disarm the republic. If they try forcefully total anarchy and chaos will reign. our guns are the only reason we remain free.

  25. If the banks do this, then the gun manufacturers should sue the hell out of them. This would be a restraint of trade.

  26. Nothing typifies Blackmail like Government Blackmail. Refer to the Feds/Obama Operation Choke Point more weaponized Agencies at work. Their ass got burnt and Trump finally killed it. Now the States want to blackmail financial instutions with “US or Them” tactics. Once again bringing Gov pressure to bear against law abiding businesses with ZERO Due Process and ZERO criminal activity.

  27. The argument we should be making is to call this out as a civil liberty issue. Its discrimination against gun owners pure and simple. This is the argument that will gain widespread understanding.

    • It is discrimination against minorities when you take into account that all women are typically considered minorities in addition to all men that are not white. Therefore minorities are in the majority and an attack on the rights of the majority is an attack on all the minorities that make up the majority.

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