FIRST ON FOX: A coalition of Second Amendment groups are accusing some of the nation’s leading banks of engaging in “revisionist history” in attempts to conceal their records of “brazen and ideologically driven” efforts to debank conservatives and gun owners during the Obama and Biden administrations.
Six pro-Second Amendment groups, including the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action and Gun Owners of America, sent a letter confronting the heads of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and the Bank Policy Institute with their debanking records.
The letter referred to these policies as “un-American” and challenged the three companies to issue a new pledge against the debanking of entities that engage in activities protected by the Second Amendment.
“The assault on our gun manufacturers, retailers, and aligned organizations has been a brazen and ideologically driven campaign to undermine the Constitutionally protected right of all Americans to keep and bear arms,” the letter reads.
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“Our industry has faced relentless attacks and discriminatory treatment for decades. We have been shut out of mainstream financial institutions,” the letter states.
“Given the fact that you have claimed to want to undo the harms caused by debanking, we write to ask for a formal, public commitment that you will no longer attempt to debank or otherwise discriminate against our companies or organizations,” it adds. “Such a public statement would align with other proclamations you have made to the administration and the media about your purported commitment to fair banking.”
In response, a spokesperson for Bank of America told Fox News Digital, “We have consistently provided banking services to retail, wholesale and manufacturers of firearms.”
The spokesperson added that Bank of America “updated our policy in 2023 to be clear that we will consider engaging with all manufacturers of firearms, with a risk-based due diligence process.”
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Meanwhile, a source familiar with JPMorgan Chase told Fox News Digital the bank hasn’t “cut off banking services to the industry.”
“We provide banking services to these manufacturers. The financing piece is where credit risk comes in,” the source said. “Banks may not provide all services to all clients, but that doesn’t mean that we have systematically shut out these manufacturers. It means that we have a risk tolerance of what product can be offered to which client.”
The source added that JPMorgan Chase has held this risk management position for years and that the bank “serves thousands of companies in direct firearms businesses like ammunition and small arms manufacturers and retailers throughout the country.”
Bank Policy Institute President and CEO Greg Baer told Fox News Digital “banks are committed to serving as many Americans as possible and are working with the administration to fix regulations that contribute to account closures.”
Baer added, “We also strongly support and are advocating for new federal rules that help ensure all customers are treated fairly.”
The Bank Policy Institute has previously praised an executive order by President Donald Trump from earlier this year outlawing debanking, the act of restricting one’s access to bank funds or operations, often with no explanation.
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Executives at leading U.S. banks have admitted to cutting people’s access to banking services for political reasons after facing pressure from the Obama and Biden administrations.
Trump has accused banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, of taking steps to debank him personally. Fox Business reported that Trump said in August that “the banks discriminated against me very badly” and “they totally discriminate against, I think, me maybe even more, but they discriminate against many conservatives.”
While JPMorgan and Bank of America have been accused of engaging in debanking, the two major banks have insisted they have not targeted clients for political reasons.
After Trump’s criticisms, Investopedia reported a JPMorgan spokesperson saying, “We have never and would never close an account for political reasons, full stop.”
The outlet also reported that a Bank of America spokesperson said it welcomed conservatives. “We never close accounts for political reasons and don’t have a political litmus test,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, two unidentified senior executives from leading U.S. banks, after Trump’s return to the White House and his “debanking” executive order, indicated to Fox Business that they faced political pressure from the Obama and Biden administrations to use debanking tactics for political reasons.
“Those pressures were very, very real,” one of the executives said.
According to one executive, banks were pressured to deny services to certain industries as part of Operation Choke Point under President Barack Obama and Operation Choke Point 2.0 under President Joe Biden.
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According to the banking executives who spoke to Fox News about the regulatory pressures they faced under the Obama and Biden administrations, ambiguity in federal laws was exploited by regulators to pursue political objectives.
Despite this, the letter accuses major banks of not citing regulatory pressure, but rather “values” and “corporate responsibility” when allegedly announcing policies in the past that restricted banking activity for entities affiliated with Second Amendment-protected activities.
The letter calls the banks’ statements “shocking and perplexing” attempts to “point the finger at Biden- and Obama-era regulators for discriminatory debanking. Rather than taking responsibility for unjust targeting of our industry and other causes and individuals considered right-leaning.”
The letter points to congressional testimony given by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan in 2019, in which it says the industry leaders laid out “plans to target gun manufacturers with new rules and regulations representing their ‘values’ and ‘corporate responsibility.’”
The letter states that Moynihan committed to stop lending to companies that make “military-style rifles for civilian use.”
The letter criticizes the phrase “military-style rifles” as vague enough to “include some of the most popular firearms in America, used for hunting, home defense, and a range of constitutionally protected activities.”
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The letter further states that, at the same hearing, Dimon said he would “consider” following Bank of America’s lead in cutting off services to gun manufacturers if his bank’s risk committee determined it was necessary.
“What became clear later was when you said ‘doing something wrong,’ you were referring to selling the most popular guns in America,” the letter said.
“Your representatives attempted to whitewash your well-documented history of targeting firearms manufacturers, retailers, and pro-Second Amendment non-profit organizations,” the letter states.
“Thankfully, President Trump has seen through that revisionist history and rightly called out your very organizations for targeting him and other law-abiding American organizations and industries with which you disagree,” the letter continues. “Given the fact that you have claimed to want to undo the harms caused by debanking, we write to ask for a formal, public commitment that you will no longer attempt to debank or otherwise discriminate against our companies or organizations.
“An equal application of rules and standards across industries is critical for fairness and ensuring the rights of law-abiding gun owners are not infringed,” the letter adds.
The other groups that signed onto the letter were the American Suppressor Association, National Association for Gun Rights, Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizen Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
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