Bank of America

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CCRKBA On Rahmbo’s Strong Arm Attempt

January 29, 2013 by

Mayor 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.

RAHM EMANUEL USING COERCION AGAINST BANKS AND GUN MAKERS, SAYS CCRKBA

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 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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GRNC Steps Up Pressure On Bank Of America

April 27, 2012 by

Grass Roots North Carolina is stepping up the pressure on Bank of America to come clean on their treatment of businesses in the firearms industry. Bank of America is a North Carolina company headquartered in Charlotte.

Why doesn’t ‘Bank of (Un)America’ issue a statement of support for the Second Amendment?

GRNC has been in direct contact with Charlotte-based Bank of America. While expressing sympathy, Bank representatives have publicly side-stepped the issue of gun rights, tried to imply blame on firearms-related businesses by hiding behind unclear “confidentiality concerns” and when offered an opportunity to clarify support of the right to keep and bear arms on GRNC’s website, they offered the following cynical non-response:

“…it is absolutely not true that we would dismiss a customer purely based on being in this (firearms-related) industry. In reviewing the facts of the case, we do believe there was a miscommunication with this client, and we have already reinforced our policies with our teams and with the client. We have also discussed with the client a transition period during which the client may be able to obtain a new source of funding.”

Remember, these “reinforced policies” led them to abruptly cut the credit lines of McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, Inc; manufacturer of firearms and accessories, including vital components of the M40A3 Marine Corps sniper rifle currently used by our forces in Afghanistan. This step was taken by BoU Senior Vice President Ray Fox who reportedly indicated to McMillan that the decision was “politically motivated”.

These attacks are being launched from our backyards

If they want to behave like they are from Bloomberg’s NYC, they can move. While they are in the free state of North Carolina they will act responsibly or answer to US!

They go on to ask people to cut up their Bank of America credit cards, drop their accounts, email bank officials, and use social media to get the word out. The full alert can be found here along with email links and Twitter links.

GRNC is demanding that Bank of America publicly announce that they support Second Amendment businesses and to instruct their managers of that.

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Kelly McMillan On NRA News

April 25, 2012 by 1 Comment

Cam Edwards of NRA News interviewed Kelly McMillan of McMillan Group International on Monday about the Bank of America’s decision to drop his company as a customer. Mr. McMillan noted a few things that haven’t come out about the story before.

First, his company and a bank representative have had a regular meeting about this time of the year to do a review. Because of this, he didn’t go into the meeting expecting what happened. He said it hit him “like a kick in the stomach.”

Second, when the banking relationship with Bank of America was started, the McMillan company involved was McMillan Firearms Manufacturing. It is hard to see, as Mr. McMillan notes, how Bank of America could not know they were involved in making firearms given that company name.

Finally, Mr. McMillan wanted to be clear that the Bank of America VP, Ray Fox, did not indicate this was a corporate bank policy. Moreover, he said he had never made a statement himself indicating it was a corporate policy when he posted on Facebook. Nonetheless, the Bank of America VP did say to him that they didn’t want his business because he was in the firearms industry. All I can say is from my experience in the corporate world is that there are written and unwritten corporate policies.

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Bank Of America, The Second Amendment, And A 46 Year Relationship (updated)

April 23, 2012 by 15 Comments

On Friday, Kelly McMillan of McMillan International, a manufacturer of firearms and some of the best stocks going, posted on Facebook about the treatment of his company by Bank of America. The bank has not issued any statement or press release refuting Mr. McMillan’s version of things. I do have an email in to their press relations office for group commercial banking and will post any response that I get.

Based in Charlotte, NC, Bank of America is the product of a merger between San Francisco-based Bank of America and Charlotte-based NationsBank. Before it took the NationsBank name, it had been NCNB and North Carolina National Bank even before that. While the original Bank of America traces its history back to Amadeo Giannini and early 20th century San Francisco, the real owners of the current Bank of America got their start in 1960 as the North Carolina National Bank and were considered upstarts in the NC banking industry.

McMillan’s full unedited post is below:

McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, McMillan Firearms Manufacturing, McMillan Group International have been collectively banking with Bank of America for 12 years. Today Mr. Ray Fox, Senior Vice President, Market Manager, Business Banking, Global Commercial Banking came to my office. He scheduled the meeting as an “account analysis” meeting in order to evaluate the two lines of credit we have with them. He spent 5 minutes talking about how McMillan has changed in the last 5 years and have become more of a firearms manufacturer than a supplier of accessories.

At this point I interrupted him and asked “Can I possible save you some time so that you don’t waste your breath? What you are going to tell me is that because we are in the firearms manufacturing business you no longer what my business.”

“That is correct” he says.

I replied “That is okay, we will move our accounts as soon as possible. We can find a 2nd Amendment friendly bank that will be glad to have our business. You won’t mind if I tell the NRA, SCI and everyone one I know that BofA is not firearms industry friendly?”

“You have to do what you must” he said.

“So you are telling me this is a politically motivated decision, is that right?”

Mr Fox confirmed that it was. At which point I told him that the meeting was over and there was nothing let for him to say.

I think it is import for all Americans who believe in and support our 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms should know when a business does not support these rights. What you do with that knowledge is up to you. When I don’t agree with a business’ political position I can not in good conscience support them. We will soon no longer be accepting Bank of America credit cards as payment for our products.

Kelly D McMillan
Director of Operations
McMillan Group International, LLC
623-582-9635
http://www.mcmillanusa.com/

 My family has had a 46 year relationship with Bank of America and its predecessor NCNB. From checking and savings accounts, car loans, safe deposit boxes, to the mortgage on my mother’s house, we have dealt with Bank of American in one form or another since 1966. Indeed, my mom had one of the first BankAmericards back in the late 1960s. We now know this as a VISA card.

After my mom’s death in 2008, I kept one account open with Bank of America out of nostalgia for the length of that relationship. I should have remembered that there is no such a thing as nostalgia in banking.

I will begin winding down my banking relationship with Bank of America this week. The first to go will be the BassPro-branded VISA card which is actually a Bank of America VISA card. Then I will begin transferring any remaining bank drafts from Bank of America to my other banks. Once this is done, the remaining checking account will be closed and thus end our 46 year banking relationship. I will be letting Bank of America management know why I closed the account.

I most certainly cannot tell you what to do nor would I. However, I would ask that you consider whether you want to keep your money at a bank (or any of their subsidiaries such as Merrill Lynch) that doesn’t respect you or your Second Amendment values. You know what I plan to do. What you do is up to you.

UPDATE: As noted in the first paragraph, I reached out to Bank of America for a comment on the McMillan Group International situation. I received a reply from Anne Pace of Bank of America. Her email didn’t have any signature line so I don’t know her exact title or position in the firm. Her verbatim response is below:

We want to let you know that we have heard the comments and questions regarding one of our customers. While we cannot discuss the details of any individual client we work with, we can assure you the allegations being made here are completely false. Bank of America does not have a policy that prohibits us from banking clients in this industry. In fact, we have numerous, longstanding customers in the industry.

In a follow-up email, Ms. Pace identified herself as one of the bank’s spokespeople.

UPDATE II: Kelly McMillan has a follow-up statement on Facebook regarding the statement put out by Bank of America that they don’t discriminate against the firearms industry.

In response to Bank of America’s public statement:

The statement we [McMillan] posted was an accurate account of the events that transpired late last week. McMillan Group has been in good standing with B of A and a loyal customer for the past 12 years. We were told that we must finalize all of our accounts because we manufacture firearms.

McMillan cannot speak for Bank of America’s company wide policies, but we can speak out about our personal experiences.

We [McMillan] kindly suggest that if Corporate Bank of America has no policy against conducting business with firearms manufactures, then they should communicate these policies with their regional Vice Presidents and other management.

UPDATE III: I closed out my BassPro Outdoor VISA from Bank of America this afternoon so the first step has been taken. I will be closing out the checking account as soon as everything has cleared and I’ve moved the remaining check drafts to another account at another bank.

I think I will use the money in this account to pay for my trip to the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Orlando this September. It seems only fitting.