Operation Choke Point was just the beginning. That Obama-era scandal featured federal regulators who used their authority to lean on the banks and payment processors they oversaw to pressure them into severing ties with legal but politically-disfavored businesses. At the time, this concept was still considered shameful and overreaching enough for the agencies involved to claim it was all a big misunderstanding and to issue “corrective” guidance once it was exposed. But to activists in and outside of government, the power of manipulating the financial services industry to achieve their objectives was just too tempting to ignore. Soon, they were openly calling for banks, credit card companies, and other financial service providers to set terms of service that openly discriminate against lawful firearm-related commerce, as well as other industries demonized by the far left. This makes the reintroduction of the Fair Access to Banking Act, led by U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), all the more timely and welcome.
