Rahm Emanuel Pressures Banks That Do Business With Gun Manufacturers [Op-Ed]

COMMENTARY | Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is reportedly pushing banks and major lenders to pressure gun manufacturers. The Democratic mayor is once again over-stepping the bounds of his office while trying to force his personal mindset onto the public sector.

Rahm Emanuel wrote a letter to the Bank of America and TD Bank on Thursday, the Washington Times notes. In the letter, the Chicago mayor asked the CEOs to “force” gun manufacturer clients to “find common ground” on the proposed weapons and ammunition ban. Emanuel also told the bankers that the “vast majority” of Americans support such a ban.

An excerpt from Emanuel’s letter republished by Politico reads:

“TD Bank currently aids the gun manufacturing industry through a $60 million revolving line of credit with Smith & Wesson, a gun manufacturer that produces the AR-15 — an assault weapon that was used by James Holmes to kill 12 people and wound 58 in a crowded movie theater in Aurora.I ask you to use your influence to push this company to find common ground with the vast majority of Americans who support a military weapons and ammunition ban and comprehensive background checks.”

Bank of America provides a $25 million line of credit to Sturm, Ruger and Company. No elected official has the authority strong arm any bank from conducting legal business with a client. His letter carries no official weight, but the nanny state intent and liberal over-reach into the public sector is readily apparent.

Prior to Rahm Emanuel’s letters to Chicago banks, he convinced his city leaders to divest $5 billion in pension fund investments from gun manufacturing companies. The former Obama administration official is not the first governmental leader to flex his political muscle against gun companies.

Both California and New York have also stopped pension investments in companies that conduct business with gun manufacturers. Such gun company animosity by liberal leaders flies in sharp contrast to President Barack Obama’s statements that he is not anti-Second Amendment. The president keeps saying that he respects the Second Amendment and is not trying to take guns away from Americans. The pressure to end pension investments and lines of credit would strictly inhibit the capability of gun companies to make products.

The pressure to cut into gun manufacturer’s profits should anger and terrify every American. Today it is gun companies that liberal lawmakers are trying to stop. What industry or product will fall out of favor with them tomorrow? If you believe that the government would never try to curb your right to buy a legal product, try and buy a large sugary drink in New York City.

The gun manufacturers are not criminals, the gangs roaming Chicago streets and breaking into homes across America are the criminals. At an Ohio gun show this past weekend, there was a sign which thanked President Obama for the recent increase in guns and ammo sales. Although gun control advocates would like folks to believe otherwise, people are not merely walking into a gun show, pointing at a firearm and then walking out the door with a new weapon. Professional gun dealers are legally bound to do a background check whether they are in their store or at a gun show.

The semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines on the gun ban list already exist. A new law will not prevent them, or any other deadly weapon, from being used in a mass shooting. Cocaine and marijuana are illegal, yet very easy to find in any city across the country. A ban on semi-automatic weapons would create a black market for the weapons just like currently exists for drugs. Guns and drugs walk across the Mexican border every day. Existing laws make such actions illegal, yet they readily continue.

Our Founding Fathers did not risk their lives by singing the Declaration of Independence to create a country which looks to their leaders as helicopter parents who need to protect us from ourselves.