\nMayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago is trying to use the “Chicago Way” to hurt firearms manufacturers. He has “suggested” to Bank of America and TD Bank that that should end lending to Sturm, Ruger and Smith & Wesson. Like most, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is taking a dim view of this.<\/p>\n
\nRAHM EMANUEL USING COERCION AGAINST BANKS AND GUN MAKERS, SAYS CCRKBA<\/b><\/p>\n
BELLEVUE, WA \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is outrageous,\u201d said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. \u201cMayor 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cGun owners and people who believe in the Bill of Rights should stop giving Chicago a line of credit by purchasing municipal bonds,\u201d he added. \u201cRahm wants to send a message, and the nation should send him a reply.<\/p>\n
\u201cMayor 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,\u201d Gottlieb continued. \u201cThat conduct seems more in the realm of a street thug than a political leader, but then, again, we\u2019re talking about a mayor who presides over a city with Draconian gun laws and a murder rate rivaling a Third World country.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMayor 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,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cThis 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 \u2018The Godfather\u2019.<\/i> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n