A U.S. senator from Oklahoma is targeting banks and other financial institutions that discriminate against those in the firearms industry and other groups not considered politically correct enough.
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, along with Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, and 39 other Senate Republicans, introduced the Fair Access to Banking Act to ensure that banks and financial institutions offer services based on financial risk rather than political agendas.
This legislation specifically penalizes banks and credit unions with total consolidated assets exceeding $10 billion, along with their subsidiaries, if they refuse to conduct business with any legally compliant, creditworthy individual. It also prohibits payment card networks from discriminating against any qualified person based on political or reputational factors.
The bill requires qualified banks to provide written justification for any denial of financial services to an individual. Additionally, the act imposes penalties on providers who fail to comply with the law by disqualifying institutions from accessing discount window lending programs, revoking their status as an insured depository institution or credit union, or imposing a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation.
“Banks should not be able to pick and choose winners and losers in the marketplace based on politics,” Mullin said in a released statement. “This legislation ensures that financial institutions operate fairly and provide services based on risk, not ideology.”
The bill is founded on President Donald Trump’s Fair Access Rule, introduced during his first term, which mandated financial institutions to conduct individual risk assessments instead of making sweeping decisions about entire industries or groups of customers. The Biden administration halted the implementation of the rule in early 2021.
According to a press release announcing the action, the senators’ legislation responds to U.S. banks and financial institutions that are increasingly using their economic power to discriminate against legal industries and conservatives outright. For instance, Citigroup implemented a policy in 2018 to withhold project-related financing for coal plants. In 2020, five of the largest banks in the country declared that they would not provide loans or credit to support oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, despite explicit congressional authorization.
Such exclusionary practices also extend to industries protected by the Second Amendment. Capital One, along with other banks, had previously listed “ammunition, firearms or firearm parts” in the prohibited payments section of its corporate policy manual. Additionally, payment services like Apple Pay and PayPal have refused their services for transactions involving firearms or ammunition.
According to Sen. Mullin, the Fair Access to Banking Act is supported by several organizations, including the National Rifle Association (NRA) and National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).
“This legislation will ensure financial institutions make decisions to offer services to lawful businesses based on objective and verifiable financial data and not the shifting of political or social views of banking executives that are unaccountable to the American voter,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel. “For too long, banking institutions have arbitrarily denied services to legal and Constitutionally-protected businesses to advance a politically-driven agenda or yielded to inappropriate political pressure from ‘woke’ banking regulators. This includes denying critical financial services to the firearm industry that provides the means for law-abiding citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
