In a letter sent Friday to the CEOs of TD Bank and Bank of America, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel urged the banks to stop serving gun manufacturers unless they support gun control measures, CBS Chicago reported.
According to CBS, Emmanuel wants the banks to "stop lines of credit, financing for acquisitions and expansions and financial advising" unless the manufacturers agree with him on issues like background checks and what he called “commonsense reforms."
“In the past, the gun industry has stood in opposition to these safety measures. They opposed a ban on assault weapons on America’s streets, opposed a ban on military-style clips, opposed a criminal background check on all gun purchases and opposed any effort to crack down on criminal gun traffickers,” he wrote.
In his letter to TD Bank CEO Bharat Masrani, he demanded the bank uses its influence “to push this company to find common ground” on gun bans and background checks, noting the $60 million line of credit the bank gives to Smith and Wesson.
"Why shouldn’t they have a line of credit?" Jason Howerton asked at The Blaze. "The company has done nothing illegal and AR-15s are perfectly legal weapons."
Emmanuel noted that Aurora movie shooter James Holmes used an AR-15, but as Howerton wrote, the mayor failed to mention that the rifle reportedly jammed during the shooting spree. Emmanuel also failed to mention the incident in which a 15-year-old boy protected himself and his sister from two burglars using an AR-15.
He also demanded that Bank Of America CEO Brian T. Moynihan take the same actions against Sturm, Ruger & Co., a manufacturer with a $25 million line of credit.
“Collectively we can send a clear and unambiguous message to the entire gun industry that investors will no longer financially support companies that support gun violence," the mayor wrote.
CBS Chicago also reported that the mayor "ordered a portfolio analysis from the five pension and retirement funds for Chicago employees to determine if fund managers hold financial interests in companies that manufacture or sell assault weapons" last week.
Writing at Townhall, Katie Pavlich called Emmanuel's move "astounding."
"Emanuel is using the power of his office with the backing of the White House agenda to not only bully private industries but to eventually kill them off," she wrote.
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before,” Emmanuel once said.
In 2012, 532 murders were reported in Chicago, a city with some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation.
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- MSNBC's Martin Bashir compares NRA to Hitler
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- Marco Rubio: Obama doesn’t have the guts to admit he’s anti-Second Amendment
- Obama declares war on NRA, CBS obeys, compares group to Nazis
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- Ben Shapiro: Piers Morgan a bully standing on the graves of Sandy Hook children
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