By now we have all heard about Obama’s unlawful use of the government’s regulatory power to advance his anti-gun agenda. If you have not heard about it- that is just what the Obama administration wants. It is another example of this administration abusing its regulatory power in order to sidestep Congress and the American people – how many times since he has been in office has the Congress allowed this?
In this instance creating a program to pressure banks to shut down the merchant accounts of legal businesses that the Obama administration doesn’t approve of! The program was initiated by the Obama Justice Department in 2013, in coordination with the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Astonishingly, Operation Choke Point can force banks and other financial service providers to cut off services to businesses that have not been found guilty of or even charged with breaking the law and other federal agencies!
Not surprisingly, this program arose out of an executive order signed by Obama – not legislation passed through Congress!
Ostensibly, Operation Choke Point is designed to protect consumers against “high risk” merchant categories by warning banks that associating with these merchants could expose the banks to “reputational risk” and threatening the banks with penalties if it does not shut down a “questionable” account when instructed to do so.
One of these “high risk” categories targeted by the Obama administration is, not surprisingly, firearms sales (along with travel clubs, tobacco sales, coin dealers and a host of other legal businesses)!
Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, who now heads the American Banking Association, quite accurately accused the Obama Justice Department of “compelling banks to deny service to unpopular but perfectly legal industries by threatening penalties.” So now the Obama administration, in order to advance its radical anti-gun rights agenda, is leaning on the banking industry to cripple industries it does not like — industries that the Justice Department cannot attack directly, because they have committed no crimes!
This is Obama’s America!
Judicial Watch did not waste any time. They launched a full-scale investigation into Operation Choke Point early in 2014, and in May we filed our FOIA documents request with the Justice Department. Of course, the Eric Holder-led Justice Department failed to comply with our requests so we went to court and filed our lawsuit in October. You can be sure we will pursue these documents through the courts for as long as it takes to try to get to the facts about this abusive, politically driven program.
We’ll also continue to monitor other potential anti-gun executive actions undertaken by this lawless administration.
Like trying to force the United States to accept the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, which would pressure the U.S. to adopt the gun laws of some of the most prohibitive nations in the world, effectively infringing our Second Amendment rights!
And just like we did with Operation Choke Point, when the Obama administration makes its next illicit power grab to attack gun rights through the abuse of the federal government’s regulator power, we will use open records laws to seek the truth and, if necessary, go to court and hold it accountable.
So this is why it is so important to support the JUDICIAL WATCH group and give all the support you can to them. Judicial Watch does more than just complain about the Obama administration and government abuse of power. If you would like to become a member, check out:
What would we do without these people – they don’t just talk the talk – they walk the walk!
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kommonsentsjane 