{"id":116589,"date":"2026-05-04T03:10:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T08:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=116589"},"modified":"2026-05-04T03:10:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T08:10:36","slug":"116589","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=116589","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump OCC Gives Customers New Tools to Hold Banks Accountable for Anti-Gun Discrimination.<\/a><\/p>\n

By Larry Keane<\/p>\n

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is giving bank customers, including firearm industry members, a\u00a0clearer path<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to document politicized de-banking and enter those concerns into the regulatory record. The move is a welcome development to further implement President Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0Executive Order 14331<\/a><\/strong>, \u201cGuaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans,\u201d and marks\u00a0another needed step<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0toward ending the practice of denying lawful businesses access to essential financial services because \u201cwoke\u201d banks\u00a0disfavor the firearm industry<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

NSSF has long reported on banks using vague \u201creputational risk<\/a><\/strong>\u201d excuses and woke boardroom gun control policies to choke off access to accounts, loans, credit, payment processing and other essential financial services. That discrimination hit lawful, highly regulated businesses whose only offense was serving Americans who choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

President Trump\u2019s order states banking decisions must be based on individualized, objective and risk-based analysis, not politics, ideology or hostility toward lawful business activity. The order specifically cited the former Obama administration-era\u00a0Operation Choke Point<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0as a \u201cwell-documented and systemic\u201d effort by federal regulators to pressure banks away from serving lawful industries that are disfavored by the political left\u2026like the firearm industry.<\/p>\n

That insidious practice\u00a0was discontinued<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0under President Trump\u2019s first term but returned anew in a privatized form under former President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

The OCC\u2019s new public comment guidance, however, gives President Trump\u2019s executive order practical force. The agency says bank customers and stakeholders can share de-banking experiences with the OCC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and those complaints may be considered when the agency reviews bank licensing filings. They may also be considered during Community Reinvestment Act examinations.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the key shift. A bank that\u2019s seeking approval for a merger, charter, branch opening or other significant transaction can no longer assume its record of politicized de-banking will remain buried in private emails, customer service denials or unexplained account closures.<\/p>\n

OCC Adds Consequences<\/h5>\n

The OCC\u2019s\u00a0guidance<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0states the agency will consider whether a bank has terminated individual customer accounts or categories of customer accounts, or refused to provide financial services to a person or category of persons, without assessing individual customer risk on a case-by-case basis. The OCC further states it may deny or condition approval of a licensing proposal by a bank with a record of politicized or unlawful de-banking.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0exactly<\/em>\u00a0the type of accountability the firearm industry has demanded and worked for years to generate.<\/p>\n

This effort also builds on the OCC and FDIC\u2019s final rule eliminating \u201creputation risk\u201d from their supervisory programs. NSSF\u00a0praised the announcement<\/a><\/strong>. The rule prohibits the agencies from criticizing or taking adverse action against a financial institution based on reputation risk and bars regulators from requiring, instructing or encouraging banks to close accounts or deny services based on political, social, cultural or religious views or beliefs, constitutionally protected speech or politically disfavored but lawful business activities perceived to present a so-called \u201creputation risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks can still make legitimate safety-and-soundness decisions. They can still assess creditworthiness, compliance obligations, fraud risk and other real financial risks. What they can\u2019t do is dress up politics as \u201ccompliance\u201d and call discrimination \u201crisk management.\u201d<\/p>\n

Firearm Industry Has Receipts<\/h5>\n

NSSF has\u00a0documented<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0several repeated and recent examples of financial discrimination against firearm-related businesses.\u00a0Citigroup<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0imposed conditions on firearm industry customers that attempted to dictate lawful commerce beyond what federal law requires.\u00a0JPMorgan Chase<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0has faced scrutiny after industry members received conflicting answers about whether the bank would serve firearm-related companies. Bank of America infamously ended financial services in 2018 to several firearm-related businesses.\u00a0Wells Fargo did the same<\/a><\/strong>. Payment processors and other financial service providers, like JPMorgan Chase, have also reversed discriminatory policies only after sustained pressure and public accountability, including being\u00a0called out by President Trump<\/a><\/strong>. Those\u00a0developments<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0are\u00a0positive<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and should be\u00a0highlighted<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0as\u00a0good behavior<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The common thread is clear. Lawful firearm manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, ranges and related businesses have been treated as politically disfavored customers instead of legitimate participants in interstate commerce. That is especially indefensible given the firearm industry is already among the most heavily regulated industries in the country and provides the products that make the exercise of Second Amendment rights possible.<\/p>\n

Members Should Document the Record<\/h5>\n

The OCC is seeking specifics. Comments should include data, references and concrete information that helps regulators identify issues warranting investigation. The agency also explains that comments may support or oppose applications, ask for more time, request a hearing or suggest approval only with conditions.<\/p>\n

That gives firearm industry members a meaningful opportunity to turn their experiences into a regulatory record that banks cannot ignore.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the end of the fight. Executive action and agency rules can be weakened by future administrations, which is why\u00a0Congress should still codify fair access protections<\/a><\/strong>. But the OCC\u2019s implementation of Executive Order 14331 is a strong, necessary step. Banks that used financial services as a political weapon should now understand the ground has shifted. The firearm industry will keep pressing until access to banking is based on lawful commerce and objective risk, not antigun politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump OCC Gives Customers New Tools to Hold Banks Accountable for Anti-Gun Discrimination. By Larry Keane The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is giving bank customers, including firearm industry members, a\u00a0clearer path\u00a0to document politicized de-banking and enter those concerns into the regulatory record. The move is a welcome development to further implement President … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116590,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116589\/revisions\/116590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}